


Braginsky Apocalypse Home

by SashaDerksen



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, Character Development, Developing Relationship, Long, Multi, Tragedy, World War III, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-04-21 13:57:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4831616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SashaDerksen/pseuds/SashaDerksen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the Russo-American crisis builds up to a full-out war, Ivan Braginsky has to evacuate his house in Moscow to a wooden mansion in the middle of nowhere with his crazy family, along with his political partner Yao Wang. Drowning in depression while trying to survive and make rational decisions seems impossible, but Ivan needs to find himself before the apocalypse finds him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Now, our meeting is scheduled this Thursday, and will be continued until Monday."  
"That's quite a while, do you really think such a time is necessary?"   
"We have lots to cover."  
"Then it's settled."  
The conversation between the two males echoed throughout the room, as other less important topics rose up. The tension between the Russian Federation and the United States was at its peak, causing Russia to turn to its greatest ally- People's Republic of China. The officials decided that their personifications would get together and discuss the most important things. That's how it came down to the two sitting at the same table. Ivan Braginsky and Yao Wang have met before, briefly, but always in the presence of government officials.   
"I should really get going now, I have to fill out some papers at home." Yao stated, biting his lip at his own words. He really had nothing to do, but he did not feel comfortable being one on one with the other.  
"Of course, it was nice seeing you, I look forward to Thursday."   
"Likewise." The onyx-haired male hoped that the lies in his words weren't too obvious to spot. Regardless of that, the two stood up and walked out of the room, each taking their own path. Yao really did miss his large home in Beijing, the hotel he was staying in was no comparison, even if it was Moscow's largest one. Opening the large wooden door, he pulled his coat tighter around his frame. The time was early April, yet the weather outside was rather chilly. Yao spotted a taxi at the end of the street and made his way towards the bright yellow car, hoping that it would not drive away.  
"Will you be able to reach this address?" The Chinese man took out a piece of paper with the hotel's address neatly written on it in black ink, silently praying that the taxi driver spoke English, and that the trip wouldn't end in a disaster.   
"Sure, as long as you have money." The driver laughed. A wave of relief overcoming the male, he eagerly got in the passenger seat, and watched the driver start the car.   
"So, aren't you China's representation? I've seen you on TV quite a lot." The driver asked, not taking his eyes off the road. Yao turned to the man, looking him over. He looked young, maybe in his twenties, with messed up brown hair and green eyes.  
"Yes, I am." Was the only proper response to the question at the time.  
"You're doing a good job. Show those Americans who's boss!" The driver smirked, stopping at a red light. Yao looked at him weakly. The man clearly did not understand that the Union between Russia ad China was created as a last resort. However, he decided not to state the truth out loud, for he knew that Russian patriots have an opinion of steel.  
"I'm Alexei. Nice to meet you." The driver turned to the Chinese man, smiling. However, Yao did not return the excitement.  
"Likewise." Yao wondered how many times he'll have to say that word, just so people will let him be.   
"I know you already, from TV and everything." Alexei continued, "It's nice meeting a personification. Kind of like meeting a celebrity, you know?"   
"Guess so." Yao did not understand how talkative some people are. He was tired from the earlier meeting, and this man was making it worse.  
"We're gonna reach the hotel in a minute or two, so get ready." The Chinese male didn't respond to the comment, but instead looked out the window at Moscow's gloomy April weather.  
"Does it always rain here?" He quietly asked, not sure if he was talking to the other man or himself.  
"Not always. The weather is going to get better in a month or so. You should see what happens to St. Petersburg during the spring. They call it Northern Venice for a reason!" Alexei exclaimed, happy to see that the male was talking with him.  
"I see." Yao didn't show much interest to the topic, at least not to this one.  
"The hotel is right here." The brunette drove the car to a stop, and looked at the other.  
"Ah, I didn't notice." Yao turned to the man, "here's your money." He took out a thousand ruble bill.  
"You can keep it. You're a government official after all." Alexei unlocked the car doors.  
"Okay, take care." The onyx-haired male opened his door and exited the car. Sighing as droplets of cold rain hit his body, he walked into the massive glass building. Too tired to respond to the receptionist, he decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator, in an attempt to avoid any chance encounters. Slowly making his way to the fifth floor, he was processing all that happened earlier. He'd have to spend five days with someone he had no common ground with, in a house he's never been before. As a very old nation, the constant traveling was really getting to him. Finally reaching his room, Yao unlocked the door, and not even changing his clothes, laid down on the bed and fell asleep, instantly.  
***  
The silver key rattled in the steel door, and opened as the champagne haired male stepped in the doorway. A gush of borscht-scented air blew right in his face as he shut the door to his rather specious apartment. Of course, Ivan wasn't the only resident in it. He lived with his three sisters, Katerina, the oldest, was the personification of Ukraine, Lena, a year younger than Ivan himself, was the personification of Karelia, Natalia, the youngest, the personification of Belarus. Along with his sisters, there lived a young male, Gilbert Beilschmidt, the personification of former Prussia, now the Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian province in Central Europe. And last, the apartment was a temporary home to the three Baltics: Toris Laurinaitis, Ravis Galante, and Eduard von Bock , who Ivan personally asked to stay in the apartment when the Russo-American crisis began. Long story short, the apartment was always filled with life of its eight inhabitants.  
"Oh, Big Brother! You're back! We made some borscht, so if you want some, you better hurry." Natalia opened the kitchen door, which was right across from the main one.  
"Smells amazing, I'll be there in a sec." Ivan took off his coat, and placed it in the massive closet. On his way to the bathroom to wash his hands, he looked through the glass in the kitchen door, to see all seven people he lived with, every one of them doing their own thing. The male walked into the bathroom and turned on the sink, quickly washing and drying his hands, since he knew that if there was something good in the house, it would be gone soon. The man then walked back into the kitchen, finding his housemates already eating.  
"We started eating before you came back, but we saved you a plate!" Katerina pointed to a porcelain white bowl filled with the steaming soup residing on the counter.  
"Thanks." Ivan replied halfheartedly, and took the bowl in his hands and made his way to the large wooden table. Conversation didn't arise as usual, and everyone was mainly focused on finishing their plate. The atmosphere was filled with tension, or so Ivan thought.  
"So... I'm going to a meeting in Istra on Thursday with Yao. I'll leave on Thursday and stay there until Monday." He proclaimed, feeling the need to say something.  
"That's a long time." Lena stated as she reached for a slice of rye bread.  
"Yeah." The champagne haired male didn't expect much commentary to his statement, as most of them didn't care.  
"Is anyone else going with you? Like any officials or something?" Gilbert asked, taking a breadstick from the basket at the center of the table.   
"No. We're going to be by ourselves." Ivan replied, dragging his spoon across the empty bowl.  
"By yourselves?" The albino spoke in a suggestive tone, only to be smacked by Lena at the back of the head.  
"It's for work, dimwit." She exclaimed, a piece of rye bread in her mouth, followed by a quiet 'ouch' and a glare from the male next to her.  
Ivan sighed. This was his daily life, constant arguing between the two provinces, his older sister's unnecessary affection, his youngest sister's obsession with him, and the three Baltics avoiding him as much as possible. He always claimed that loneliness was eating away at his heart, and truth be told, it was. Yet when his so-called family moved in, his days were filled with noise and arguments.  
"I'm gonna go file some things. Thanks for the meal, it was great." He stood up, and made his way to the door.  
"You're not staying for dessert? We're having chocolate cake." Natalia asked, a hint of pleading in her voice.  
"No thanks. That means more cake for you guys." He shot the group a final glace before exiting the kitchen. He heard more talk coming from the kitchen as he walked back to his room. Maybe Ivan needed a break. A break from work, politics, his family. He walked into his room and sat down on the chair placing his legs on the work table. Suddenly, he remembered a secret stash of alcohol that he kept for emergencies. This was definitely the emergency he was saving it for. Ivan stood up and reached up to his bookshelf, sliding the actual shelf over, as it acted as a door to his stash. He took out a bottle of Russian Standart vodka, and flicked the cap off, proceeding to halfway down the alcohol.   
"Nothing can be completely right in life, can it?" He melancholicaly stated to himself, and placed the bottle down. He was both dreading Thursday and looking forward to it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Call us when you get to Istra! Also don't get yourself in political messes, we don't need any of that." Katerina was talking fast, and maybe unclear at the time. Ivan couldn't really comprehend what his sister was saying, not that he really wanted to.   
"I will, Katya." The male sighed, annoyed as his older sister proceeded to fix his scarf, and checked his entire schedule, maybe for the fourth time already.  
"I really need to get going now, I can't be late."He started towards the door.   
"Alright. Stay safe!" Katerina smiled, her eyes tearing up. She knew how much her brother was going through, and she wanted to help him, but how do you help someone when you don't know their problem exactly?  
The male nodded, and looked at the group standing in front of him. His younger sister's face didn't express any emotion, and maybe if it did, that it would be a mix of pain, despair, emptiness. Ivan knew exactly how she felt, only hoping her the best. Natalia held a spiritless look in her eye. The male knew that she didn't want him to go, but he couldn't do anything about it. His eldest sister, tears welled up in her eyes, a look that a mother would hold when her son is going off to college. It may have been seen as odd, but understandable. Gilbert was in his usual stance: arms crossed, and his face formed into an annoyed pout. But if he wasn't mistaken, Ivan could see a glint of worry in his garnet eyes. The albino had never taken a liking to him, especially after his country was dissolved, but that didn't mean he hated the other, even if he had stated it a number of times. The Baltics didn't look much different than any other day, either. Lamenting, unnerved. None of them were looking him in the eye, seemingly lost in their own thoughts.   
"See you later." Ivan muttered almost silently, his words followed by a few goodbyes, he opened the thick wooden door and stepped out on the porpoise slate floor of the stairs leading out of the home. Sighing, he shut the door to the apartment he wouldn't come back to in a long time.  
Taking quiet steps down the stairs, he was consumed in his own thoughts. The Russo-American crisis put him in a trance, and that wasn't the crisis itself, but rather the events that followed. Alfred F. Jones, the personification of the United States of America, had no significant grudge against Ivan, but even saying that is going a long way. They're nations, they've fought with each other and against each other. It made the male sick to the bone that things had turned out like this. He could've gotten along with Alfred, and everyone else, too, quite well, if it wasn't the corrupt, selfish ways of his rulers.   
Ivan opened the building's door to find a black Audi S6 parked right across from the entrance. He knew that whoever was in the car at the moment was waiting for him. The male reluctantly walked up to the car and knocked on the window. All motion that there was in the car seemed to stop and almost unwillingly unlocked the car doors. Ivan opened the door and cautiously got in.   
Two men dressed in black were seated in the driver and passenger seat, and gave him a questioning look. Then, one of the men looked at the other and nodded, allowing him to start the car.  
Ivan looked out the window at the desolate streets of Moscow as they drove, only a few passerby gloomily walking down the watery concrete, their umbrellas towering over their heads like the melancholic angst dominating the nation. He felt as the sight was mocking him and the situation he was in, so the male turned away from the window. Ivan took out his phone, a brand new Yota 2, one that he bought in one of the biggest malls of the city with his family, nearly three months ago right before the crisis skyrocketed. He remembered how Natalia convinced them to go shopping as a whole family, so the eight of them went on a trip to Metropolis. He remembered his sisters trying on beautiful dresses. He remembered Gilbert and Lena finally getting along as they pulled innocent pranks on some of the visitors. He remembered the Baltics smiling and laughing alongside him, a sight that he hasn't seen in a long time. After all, how could Ivan forget the best thing that happened to him in many, many years?  
Understanding that this ride would take no less than an hour, he turned on whatever music he had on the phone and decided to check the news.  
"...U.S. plans to attack Russia..."  
"...Russo-American crisis gone too far..."  
"...China can't back out now..."   
The male quickly shut his phone and placed it beside him, as he felt his already shattered heart cripple to bits. He knew far too well that the U.S. wouldn't attack his country. At least, Alfred wouldn't let them. The honey-haired male had a impartial relationship with Ivan, and even though the two have been rivals for hell knows how many centuries, they wouldn't destroy cities, claim millions of lives, destroy culture of each other's countries. But then again, personifications played a minor role in the political development of their nations. Not as much as they should, anyway.   
Ivan observed the car's surroundings as soon as they passed MKAD. He noticed a family in the car next to theirs, laughing, having fun, enjoying life. The man warily smiled at the sight. Ivan envied his people, he could only wish to be this carefree. Of course, hardly anyone was carefree at the moment, worrying about their motherland, and preparing for war. Ivan hated putting his people through this for what seemed like the thousandth time.   
***  
"Mr. Wang, he's here." A middle aged man in tinted sunglasses, wearing an obsidian colored tuxedo stepped into the room. Yao was looking out the window, thinking things over. The onyx-haired man turned to the guard and stood up slowly.  
"May I see him, then?" He asked, in a voice that sounded almost demanding. The guard seemed uneasy and nodded, quickly muttering something in his radio. He told Yao that he would lead him to the car where Ivan was. The Chinese man unenthusiastically followed the guard through the vast building that was their said countryhouse. The guard stopped in front of a large metal door and opened it, letting Yao step outside. He was wearing a black scarf to keep himself warm, and as soon as he set foot into the Russian cold, the bitter wind sent the loose parts of the scarf into the air. The male tightened his grip on the dark fabric. Yao focused on the glossy jet black Audi coming to a stop and proceeded to observe two other men dressed in black, but his attention was drawn to a rather muscular man dressed in an alabaster trenchcoat, dark viridian pants and tall hickory boots, his ashen hair briskly blown around by the Northern wind, and his deep amethyst eyes staring right into the Yao's amber ones, a somewhat surprised expression on his face that was replaced by a small smile, which the Chinese man returned. Ivan walked to the entrance of the countryhouse with the guards on both of his sides.   
"We seem to be late, so we must leave now. Everything that you'll need for the five days is in the house, and if anything goes wrong we'll make sure to inform you as soon as possible. Keep an eye on the news too." Neither of the personifications liked how this sounded, and cringed slightly. The guard gave an understanding look, and started towards the car.  
"Farewell, we hope your meeting turns out nicely." He said before getting in the dark vehicle with his comrades, and driving away. The two stood in an awkward silence, waiting for the other to speak.  
"So... We should go inside." Ivan noted, looking at the shorter nation's shivering form.  
"Yeah." Yao replied, and walked through the door that Ivan held open, then entered himself. The two haven't been to the house before, so it was quite a challenge to find where to go. They've been explained the layout of the house, but neither took it into consideration.  
"Do you want to go to the kitchen for some tea?" The blonde stated, immediately regretting his own words. Socialization wasn't too easy of a thing for him, but the other didn't seem to take notice.  
"Sure, why not." The pair moved in the direction of the kitchen, to find a large dining room connected to a chartreuse-colored kitchen, glistening silverware and brand new pots neatly stacked in their designated places. Yao took a step into the space, but was quickly ushered out by the blonde.  
"You've had a long ride, relax. I'll make the tea for both of us." He assured the other, who shrugged and sat down on the oak chair, which was beautifully decorated with traditional Slavic designs carved in it. There was no noise, except for the shuffling of the Russian male in the kitchen, while Yao watched him.   
"You typically drink this one, isn't that right?" Ivan pulled out a scarlet metal box, facing it to the other male.  
"Yes, but it's very expensive, please don't shake it around." Yao warned, slightly raising his hand. Ivan chuckled lightly.  
"I won't, but you do know the officials bought this for us? I can call them right now and ask them for an entire truck of this tea, and they'll bring it." He smiled, as he set the kettle on the polished stove.   
"Don't take things for granted. Even if they brought us an entire truck of this tea, I would treat each box like it's my only one." Yao sighed, while the blonde just chuckled and went back to brewing the beverage.  
"I like how you think. I guess I've just been zoned out for the past few months, I forgot how life really is." Ivan smiled desolately.  
"I understand. It's been exactly the same for me. Our officials want so much from us, they forget that we have lives of our own, don't they?" The Chinese man melancholically stated his thoughts.   
"I agree completely."   
And at this very moment, the two realized that they already had common ground. Maybe, just maybe, this entire union wasn't an inaccurate mistake, but rather the beginning of a friendship created by fate.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3  
Yao woke up to a sweet scent filling his lungs. The air around him was warm, but there was a sound of something outside.' Rain?' he thought to himself as he stirred awake. For a second, Yao swore he was in his own house, that it was just monsoon season, and he would see his own family later on in the day. But no, it was nothing like that. Realization hit him, and Yao understood that he was in Russia, and his family was very, very far.  
The male stumbled out of bed, and looked around the room. It was painted a calming crimson color, reminding him of his home country once again. He sighed and walked in the bathroom that was connected to his room. Yao looked in the mirror and took a deep breath. He hasn't looked this unhealthy since the 1960's. The male washed his face quickly, and exited the space. The exquisite smell from earlier entered his system again, and now he was determined to find it.  
He exited his room, and walked downstairs of the elite house, examining the carvings decorating the handrail and spindles. They recalled ancient Slavic designs, and were painted a beautiful sepia color. Yao took time to admire the work put in a house that would only be used once.  
As the ebony-haired male walked into the kitchen, which was the source of the delightful smell, he found Ivan sitting on one of the chairs, aimlessly staring out the window, while something sizzled on the stove. Right when Yao stepped in the kitchen, Ivan turned his head to him, a small smile forming on his face.  
"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" He asked and got up making his way to the stove. Yao watched him pick up a spatula and flip over the golden solid.  
"I did. The bed is quite nice." The man replied, still eyeing the skillet, "What are you cooking? It smells amazing." He remarked.  
"They're blini. Kind of like crêpes. Want to try some?" The blonde turned around with a plate full of thin pancakes, fried to a perfect crisp.  
"Of course." Yao was taken aback, but decided to proceed anyway, for he didn't have exactly another choice. Not that he minded. People always talked about how great they are, so it was time for Yao to test that theory.  
"You can eat them plain, but I would suggest a topping." Ivan reached in the fridge and pulled out a tinted can rimmed in gold, "if you can't choose one, just have this. It's probably the best thing I've had." He placed it on the table, and Yao opened it carefully. Inside was about a thousand scarlet bubbles. It didn't take long to register that this was caviar, a luxury food even in first world countries.  
"You're really making the best out of the situation." The onyx-haired man looked up at Ivan, who was now sitting down, with wide eyes.  
"If you can live life to its fullest, you should let yourself do things you don't usually. Because that opportunity won't last forever." The blonde replied, resting his head against the back of the chair.  
"You're young, but you think like someone who's been on this planet for rather a while." Yao cautiously scooped some of the delicacy and smeared it on the pancake's surface.  
"I might be young, but I've seen a lot." The male sighed and picked up one of his own pancakes. But instead of smearing caviar all over it, he rolled it into a small tube and dipped it in condensed milk.  
"You just said that we should take advantage of the situation, yet you're eating like a middle-class citizen." The Chinese man commented.  
"I'd rather eat like a middle-class citizen that eat what you're eating. It brings back too many memories." A lump formed in his throat, and he resisted an urge to cry. Ivan just smiled, for the sake of his business partner.  
Yao instantly felt bad for him. He understood what the other was going through. Losing his family was a thing that has happened to him before many times, but he was over four millenniums. To him, Ivan was rather young.  
"Maybe once we finish business, you can take me to your apartment and we can have dinner there with your family? I can help make the food, and you'll introduce me to the people you live with. I've never really met them formally." Yao suggested and placed the pancake in his mouth, the zestful taste of the caviar entered his system, he finally understood why this food was considered a luxury.  
"Only if you're willing to deal with everyone. They're what you would call, rather out of the ordinary." Ivan sighed as he remembered about his family back in Moscow. Hell knows how they were doing, and only hoped for the best.  
"I've dealt with a crazy family of my own, you know?" Yao smiled, and proceeded to the next pancake, in an attempt not to waste food.  
"Then I guess it won't be a problem." The Russian male had no appetite at the moment, and planned on getting work done. "So, after we finish breakfast, do you want to start on the papers? Maybe we can finish before Monday." He suggested.  
"If that's what you think is good, then of course." The ebony-haired male gave a small smile.  
***  
"I was told that the documents were in the study, so I think that's where we should go." Ivan explained as they walked down the hall of the massive house.  
"Now if only we could find it." Yao sighed as he looked into the rooms of his side of the hall, "I remember something about it being on the second floor."  
"I think you're right. The third door on the left side of the second floor." The blonde recalled, and the two started up the stairs of the house.  
The room turned out to be exactly where they thought it was, and they sat down to look over the papers.  
"That's a bit too much for us to finish in three days, don't you think?" Yao stated, stunned with the amount of work the officials presented to them. It was nothing serious, though. Just a bunch of topics and government documents, yet they filled a rather large suitcase.  
"I guess so, but it's nothing too serious. We'll finish this in no time." Ivan gave a small smile, trying to keep a positive mood. He picked up the first paper in the stack and started to examine it,"Here. This one is about rations and secret stashes of food."  
"Are you sure we're supposed to be looking through those papers? They do seem private." The Chinese male made an attempt to stop his partner from reading the papers, but he was late.  
"I'm certain that these are the correct files. They have today's date marked on it, so that's my assumption." His partner replied, and showed the date imprinted on the leather.  
"I guess so, then. Continue reading."  
The two sat down at a table and talked over the paper, making notes on the map in the study, and finding alternate routes from the city to the bunkers with food. It could've been said that they were having fun if one was looking form the side. After they were finished, they moved onto the next paper, and then the next, and so on. This very ritual continued on for almost five hours.  
"Wow, look at the time! It's already four in the afternoon." Yao remarked, taking a glance at the clock for the first time since they arrived.  
"Seriously? It feels like only an hour has passed." Ivan looked at the clock on his phone for time accuracy, and the clock on the wall turned out correct.  
"I can agree." The ebony-haired male looked over the stack of papers on the wooden hickory desk, "Well, we covered twenty three pages today. If we keep working like this, we might actually finish by Sunday."  
"That's good news. If we'll be done, I can call the officials and they can take us to Moscow one day earlier." The other suggested, "And as of now, we can take a walk outside of you want to. The weather is rather nice today, and there's a park nearby."  
"Sounds great, let's go." Yao replied, joy filling his words.  
As they stepped out of the study, they moved down the hall, chatting happily, each telling an occasional joke, which resulted in laughter. And both understood, that this was the best day they've had in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the short chapter. Next one will be longer. And much more interesting ;3


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4  
"We've been doing great so far. Sixteen topics done in only three hours." Yao commented as the two sat in the study once again, starting the second day of discussing papers.  
"Very true." Ivan nodded, "We deserve a break. Does some TV sound good?"   
"Sure. We can have some tea in the meantime as well."  
They walked down the hall of the massive house, recalling yesterday, and somewhat dwelling upon past memories.  
"I'm guessing you want your usual tea?" The champagne haired male asked, placing the charcoal colored leaves in the tea pot.  
"It's my usual after all." Yao smiled, somewhat proud of how comfortable he was getting.  
"My my, I never thought that you would be so sarcastic." Ivan chuckled lightly and placed the kettle to boil.   
"Before I came here, neither did I." Yao returned the happy atmosphere  
After a minute or so, Ivan's Yota phone rang.  
"Hold on, I have to take this." He motioned to his partner who nodded in understanding, "Hello?"  
"Mr. Braginsky, the news I'm about to tell you are very shocking, so it's best to make sure you're sitting down." The shaky voice of his guard on the other end surprised Ivan out of nowhere. His smile instantly disappeared and was replaced by a panicked expression.  
"What?! Is anyone injured?!" He almost screamed into the phone, also catching Yao's attention.  
"What happened?" The Chinese man whisper-yelled, only to be ignored.  
"I'm afraid that the United States has attacked the Eastern coast. They've gotten as far as Vladivostok."   
Ivan's heart skipped a beat as soon as the words hit him. Everything seemed to stop in the world, and Ivan took a second to take in the information at hand.   
"Are you sure you got that correct?" He replied, his voice nowhere his usual. Not waiting for a reply, the male whipped his head to face his partner, "Turn on the news."   
Yao, too afraid to respond, flipped on the large Samsung TV, where the news channel was playing. Nothing serious, the reporter talked about the president's decline for a meeting the previous day. Ivan felt as if a mountain, no, the entire world was taken off his shoulders before a loud beeping sound erupted from the speakers. He instantly recognized that sound, and that realization, that mere fact made him want to end his life there and then.  
"Attention all citizens of the Russian Federation. As of today, the United States of America has sent its troops over here, not for peaceful purposes, but rather to fight. Yes, this is the end of the Russo-American crisis, and the beginning of the Third World War."   
The room grew silent, and seemingly so did the entire nation. The announcement continued on, something about the president responding to the attacks, and something about staying put, but those words meant nothing to Ivan at the moment. It wasn't that the situation at hand surprised him, but he thought that the crisis would die off. Oh how wrong he was. The champagne-haired male stood there, not being able to move or even think. The only thing that echoed through all corners of his mind at soul was the same thing haunting him for months on end: the end of all peace.  
Ivan began to come to his senses when he heard his name being yelled to him, getting louder and louder each time. Finally regaining control of his body, he turned around to find Yao, in a state not better than his own.   
"They've been calling for you on the phone for almost two minutes now." He pointed at the Yota laying on the table. The Russian picked it up, and cleared his throat.  
"Yes?"  
"We've evactuated your family, and a car is on its way to get the both of you. You'll be driven to private headquarters and flown to the same place. Gather only the things you have brought with you, and be ready when the car comes." The other line responded.  
"Wait a second! The closest place fit for this situation is over a two thousand kilometers away, and it's in the east direction! Where are you taking us?" He yelled back into the phone, only a sigh coming out of the other end.  
"You know exactly where we're taking you." The thought took a second to register in the blonde's head, and he finally came to a realization.  
"No. No, no, no. You're not taking us to-"  
"This was the choice of the president himself, it's the only safe place for you right now."  
The male continued to protest, but the other end already hung up. A frustrated groan escaped from his lips and he slammed his phone down on the table.  
"What's happening?" Yao shakily asked, a lump formed in his throat.  
"All hell's loose." Ivan replied, taking a deep breath, "We don't have much time. We need to get everything that we brought and be ready to leave." He grabbed the ebony-haired male by the arm, practically dragging him behind as he speedwalked through the house.  
"My room is at the other end of the hall. Gather your things and meet me here in ten minutes." The Russian quickly stated, and left to his room, leaving Yao in front of his room. He was stunned at how quickly his partner reacted to the situation, and how serious he was. Well, in all honesty, he had every right to be serious, the Third World War is at hand, and they've got no time to lose.   
Yao slammed the door to his room open and grabbed his small suitcase, thanking the lords that he hadn't unpacked yet. After a double take, he decided to search the room for any things that might be useful to the two before they get to their final destination. Flipping furniture in and out of place, he got hold of two books about the Russian wilderness, a Swiss army knife, and a pocket toolbox. The man shoved the items in his suitcase and walked outside, where Ivan was standing, impatient.  
"Ready? The guards should be here in around five minutes." He impatiently asked. Yao gave a nod and the two began to descend down the stairs.  
"I was thinking we could go into the kitchen and gather some food." The Chinese male suggested.  
"We'll be presented with everything we need, you know." Ivan replied, taking a glance in his partner's direction.  
"It never hurts to be prepared." Yao gave a small smile.  
"You know how to convince people, I'll give you that." The Russian looked at the time on his phone, "Fine, but we have to hurry."   
The two paced around the kitchen, only grabbing the most important things, such as bottled water, a small boiler, bread, and other food that didn't take long to make.   
Taking a glance in the fridge for the last time, Yao noticed the caviar, the same one that he had last time, probably. He quickly grabbed it and placed it in his suitcase after hearing his name being yelled.  
"What is it?" He called out and began to move in the direction of the exit.  
"The car is here." Ivan opened the front front door to reveal a glossy black Jeep, with tinted windows and a scarlet license plate.   
"We should go." Yao tugged on his partner's sleeve, who seemed to stare into the direction of the city of Istra, once so happy, it was driven into a state of panic, a state of fear, a state of anarchy as its citizens tried every way to get to safety.  
"Yeah, let's go." The two walked to the car, and whoever was inside it unlocked its doors, and the two males sat down.  
"Listen, the main roads are far too crowded, so we're going to take an alternate route. I hope you prepared for a bumpy ride." One of the guards said from the passenger seat. The personifications looked at each other in almost agony. Without waiting for an answer, the driver took off, swerving to the forest road instead of the highway. Although the car was fit for such trips, the cabin shook like an earthquake.  
After a painful hour, the Jeep finally turned onto a road with pavement on it. A wave of relief washed over the two, until the car stopped in front of a bar that blocked the entrance to a large glass building. Ivan instantly recognized it as the Northwestern private airport, from where planes took off on secret missions. The two front doors opened, letting the men in the passenger and driver's seat step outside and talk to whoever was guarding the airport. In a minute, they came back and started the engine once again, while the bar opened the gate for them.  
"We're dropping you off here. All you need to do is walk in, and the personnel with tell you where your plane is. Good luck." The man in the passenger seat said and unlocked the car doors. The personifications thanked them and got out of the Jeep, and reluctantly walked through the sliding glass doors of the airport.   
They were greeted by a man and a woman, again, in all black, sunglasses over their eyes, even though it was mid-October, radios strapped to their waists.  
"Your plane is here, and it's soon to take off. The flight will last only an hour." The woman stated in a monotone voice, and walked in the direction of the gates, motioning for the two to follow.  
The two looked around the seemingly small airport, even though it looked more like a business center. The building consisted of two floors, each being visible from their position. The first floor was more of a meeting floor, and consisted of secretary rooms, flight directions, even a small bar, and the actual gates where the passengers of said planes flew off to their destinations. The second floor was the actual workplace. The airport had no one to hide anything from, so the flight directors, radios and other communication, and flight routes were all examined practically in front of everyone, not that anyone cared. Security was a high priority for this place, even if it did't seem like it.  
"You need to board the plane right now, for we are in an emergency situation. Your pilot is very skilled, so don't worry about such things. Also you will be flying closer to the ground than usual, since we can't let the Americans spot you." The man stated and pointed towards the door that would open the tunnel to the plane.   
The personifications nodded and started towards the door. The man quickly rushed over and opened it, almost in a panicked state.  
"We can't let anyone who doesn't work in the organization open the doors, since they have fingerprint detectors on them. Very sorry for the inconvenience, have a pleasant flight." He gave a forced smile and allowed the two to pass.  
They walked in silence to the rather long tunnel to the plane until a man, seemingly in his forties, greeted them.  
"Good afternoon. I'm Micheal Leontev, the pilot on this plane." He shook both of the men's hands.  
"Nice to meet you." Ivan said, smiling half-heartedly, "I'm guessing you already know both our names."  
"I do, you're quite famous after all." Michael laughed, "Now, as much as I hate to tell you this, we've just received a message that doesn't allow giving anyone boarding the planes anything more than bottled water. They're stocking up on food and water in the Kremlin now, apparently."  
"That's alright. The government does what they think is right." The blonde stated.  
"If you say so. You may take your seats, or walk around the plane as you please, but we'll be taking off in a couple of minutes. Enjoy your flight." He smiled, and walked into the cockpit.  
"Let's take our seats." Yao suggested and they walked into the premium class interior of the plane. It was a private one, so there were only two seats. They placed their suitcases into the bin on the side of the interior, and sat down, in silence. The two hadn't exchanged a word, even when the plane took off and was flying in the air.  
"I've been meaning to ask you this ever since this whole chaos started," Yao finally broke the silence, "Why do you hate the place we're going to so much?"  
Ivan paused for a moment before responding.  
"It's quite a long story, and my sisters know more about it than I do, but I guess you should know. Almost right after the revolution of 1917, the communist party started to gain more and more land, and destroyed manors, countryhouses, and even entire villages of bourgeoisie property. But they reported many problems with a certain residence, just off the coast of the Ladoga Lake, because no matter how much it burned, it would always be left standing. They said the place was cursed, and hell, even I started to believe that. So they just gave up, and gave the property to the government, houses standing and all. I've visited it a few times, and the entire place was huge. There were at least eight medium sized houses, barracks for the horses, and the biggest point of interest was the fourteen bedroom, three story marble mansion in the center of it all. Of course, everything was beautifully decorated, a fountain in front of the manor, and bushes of flowers, resembling large open fields. It was a wonderful-looking place."  
"You say 'was'. Did something happen to it?" Yao asked.  
"Yes. After the second world war, even that residence was destroyed. The government had no need to restore it, but my sisters, especially Elena, wanted it back. She said she felt some sort of connection to it."   
"Well, if the place is close to the Ladoga Lake, it's practically right next to Karelia."  
"Maybe so, but that wasn't her reason. When the government asked her for a reason, they wouldn't take what she said to us for an answer. Then, she came up with a theory, that the house will be used as a shelter in the next war. They called it the Braginsky Apocalypse Home, the residence of misery. For some reason, the government agreed. They even let my sister direct the reconstruction. One day, they were uncovering old rubble, and found a tunnel under it. No one knows what the tunnel led to, for when the workers came back, they told my sister that this construction has to stop, that there is a story far too dangerous behind the residence. Being that paranoiac she is, she took it into consideration, and told the government that they should stop building it. Of course, they didn't give a damn about what she had to say, and continued on, for the money was already put into the project. She visited it one last time when the reconstruction was done, and no one has come back to it since. Not until now, that is." Ivan finished the story with a sigh.  
"That's a very interesting history, although it does seem very eerie." Yao replied with amazement in his voice. He always had a thing for haunted buildings, and spending time in one would be incredible to him, even if his partner didn't share that excitement.  
"Its current history might seem great, but only time will tell how it continues, if it continues at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry for the long wait. I was on hiatus for a while due to end-of-the-quarter exams and two anime festivals. But I should be updating regularly now. So please accept these two chapters as an apology ;3


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5  
The seven people sat in the waiting room, the atmosphere tense and uncomfortable. They had been minding their own business in their large apartment when a group of government agents practically broke into their house, telling them that the Third World War is at hand. No one actually believed them, until a call confirming their worst nightmares. Afterwards, they were taken to the middle of hell knows where, their whereabouts known only to the heads of the government, including the president himself, a place dubbed the Braginsky Apocalypse Home. As of now, they were waiting for a certain Russian male and his business partner, impatiently. That was until they heard the sound of a car outside.  
"Do you think it's them?" Natalia, the youngest female, asked.  
"It has to be. The States wouldn't have gotten here this fast." Gilbert replied to her, and cracked the door open slightly. To everyone's uttermost delight, a jet black Toyota Venza parked in front of the building.  
"Big Brother, you're back!" The Belorussian female happily exclaimed, being the first one to exit the house.  
"Thank god they're all here." Ivan muttered under his breath as he and Yao got out of the front seats.  
"I'm so glad you're safe!" Katerina pulled the two in a hug, "it certainly did take you a while to arrive."  
"They evacuated us after the public got informed. Plus, Istra is quite far from here, you know." Her brother replied, walking to the entrance.   
"Well, I'm happy you got here unharmed. Horrible things are happening in Vladivostok right now." She took a deep breath, not letting herself lose control over her emotions in such a situation.  
"Yeah, the Kremlin just called. They told us that they've sent multiple squads there, but we still need to be very cautious." Gilbert stated, whilst the group made sure all doors to the house were locked, even though they were all aware that if anything does happen, those locks will do absolutely nothing.  
"This seems like a weird thing to ask, but wouldn't this cause physical damage to you? Since you're the personification of Russia, and personifications are tied to their land?" Toris asked worriedly.  
"I haven't felt anything for the past few months, this isn't a as big of an impact on my physical health as it is on my mental." Ivan replied.  
A silence arose in the room once again, a sound unbearable to all of the people present.  
"Are we just going to stand like this? Not do anything while the world develops in yet another war? Back in my days, everyone would rise and help their homeland." Gilbert remarked at the atmosphere, bitterly.  
"That's why the Teutons lost so many wars." Lena snickered, while the male looked at her in disbelief, "But he's right. We can't just sit around and watch our citizens struggle for their lives. We've lived a millennium on this planet, we know how to end this well."   
"We can't be strong and heroic if we're dead. Sure, personifications are immortal, but only to some extent. I don't think we'll be left in the living if they nuke the everloving shit out of us." Ivan declared, "We can help the Kremlin, but from a distance, and this distance is far enough."   
***  
The group sat a large iroko table, in attempts to comprehend the events happening around them. No one was speaking, nor did they feel the need to. The nerve-racking atmosphere did a good job with that. The government's actions were unclear, and they couldn't do anything about it, for they were in the middle of hell knows where, forbidden to move out of the iron fence they were placed in.  
"Hey, the Kremlin said they weren't going to come here too often, right?" Yao asked, his voice barely a whisper.  
"I think so. What about it?" Ivan replied, as the others looked at the pair.  
"Nothing too bad, but when do you think our rations will end and we won't have anything to eat?" The Chinese male half-sarcastically asked, as a wave of realization hit the group. If they consumed food and toiletries like they did back in Moscow, they would run out of supplies in a week. This question seemed to drive Ivan over the edge. He abruptly stood up and slammed his hands on the table, making the rest of the group flinch.  
"We'll figure something out. I don't know how we're going to do it, but we will. I'm done with today for now. Call me if anyone dies." He bitterly spat and walked out of the room, up the stairs and into whatever room was closest to his sorrowful heart, leaving the rest sitting in an awkward silence.  
"Dear God, this is going to be the end." Katerina whispered under her breath.  
"Katya" Natalia lifted her head up to face her sister, "We know."  
"The thing is, this time, we're stuck here, and we're unable to fight. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but it definitely changes lots of things." Eduard stated, attempting to sound more positive.  
"I won't be surprised if they don't let us participate in the war, or worse yet, kill us off in the beginning." Toris melancholically remarked, this causing another outburst from the German male.  
"You know, instead of discussing our future deaths, we could look around this hellish place and at least make some sort of an effort to prevent them." Gilbert twitched his eyebrow, as the rest of the group sat quietly, figuring that this was a rather clever idea.  
"He's right. We can divide into groups and scout the place. Then come back with anything useful we find." Katerina proclaimed.  
"What about your brother?" Yao asked the blonde.  
"We can tell him about the details later. As you can see, he's not in the best mood right now."   
"Moods aren't relevant when it's a matter of life or death." Gilbert declared and walked out the dining room's door.  
Lena sighed and stood up next, "Let's hurry. The sun is going to set soon."  
The group carefully moved out, grabbing their coats from the spacious wardrobe, riddled with large mirrors resembling strict Soviet designs. The mere fact that this residence was deserted for over sixty years made everything seem a lot more eerie. Hell knows who, ore what, for that matter, could've gotten in the house during that time. As they all walked outside, they noticed distant, almost non-existent noise coming from the nearest populated area, which was over fifty kilometers away. It was quite terrifying, to know that somewhere, someone, is making those sounds. Sounds created by angst, fear, and anger. The personifications almost seemed to get lost in the moment before a cough from the albino male drew their attention back to reality.  
"If we want to be even slightly successful in this, we need to do it fast but thoroughly. Let's just divide into groups and search different areas. The North, South, West, and East regions of the place."  
"I'll go alone." Yao stated, looking the Prussian in the eye.  
"No one is going alone." Gilbert put as much emphasis on the phrase as he could. "We don't know what the hell might be hiding in here, but whatever it is, trust me, it isn't good."   
That seemed to be the end of Yao's attempt at an argument, so he seemed to give up.  
"We'll meet here when the sun reaches the peak of the horizon. Good luck." Gilbert looked up at the now fire-colored orb in the sky, and with the end of his words, the personifications split up, searching for something that might not have been there in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I lied about updating regularly, because finals and schoolwork in general are real stressful, but please bear with me at the moment, because I will, for sure, be writing a lot over winter break.
> 
> P.S. I might add more to this VERY short chapter later, but this is it in the meantime.


	6. Chapter 6

_ "Hey Katya, look, it's snowing!" A young Russian boy ran up to his older sister, smiling happily. _

_ "It is. Isn’t it pretty?." She replied, her gaze focusing on the fluffy white flakes swirling downwards in a spiral pattern. _

_ "Can I go outside? I haven't seen snow in so long!" The violet-eyed boy exclaimed, bouncing from joy. _

_ "Of course, but you have to put on warm clothes, or else you'll get sick. Take your sisters too." She yelled the last phrase in the direction where the boy was running, for he took off right after she agreed. _

_ "Lena, Natasha, come outside and play with me!" He threw the door to his younger sisters' door open , and ushered them to follow him. _

_ "It's too cold. Let's stay inside." His youngest sister shivered even though she already had two blankets on top of her. _

_ "I think that's a wonderful idea! Come on, Nata, it won't be for long." The Karelian girl pulled her sister up and dragged her out of the room. _

_ "This is ridiculous, I want to go back inside." The blonde girl huddled next to the other two as her brother walked farther out and grabbed a handful of snow. _

_ "It's so beautiful." His small hand grew red and he clutched it tighter, "yet so cold..." Turning around, he tossed the snow at the Belarusian girl, who shrieked in surprise. _

_ "I'll avenge you, little sister!" The ashenette grabbed as much snow as she could fit in her hands, and threw it back at the boy, both of them laughing. _

_ "Hey, you don't need to protect me!" Their sister ran after them, flailing her arms. _

_ The older Ukrainian girl watched from the window at the laughing children, warmly smiling. They looked so joyful, so untroubled, so free... _

Opening his eyes as fast as he could, letting them adjust to the darkness, Ivan shuddered at the memory. He has been getting lots of flashbacks lately, some of happy times, some not so much. Sighing, he turned around, expecting to see the large window of his room, but instead was faced with the back of the Chinese personification, all recent events coming together for what seemed like the thousandth time. He carefully got up from his bed and walked towards the window, one of the only two. The sight outside shocked him more than anything could at the moment. Snow. The entire cast backyard was filled with a thin layer of the pearly thing.

"Must be deja vu or something." He assumed and turned back to the bed when he heard the bedsheets moving.

"What are you doing up so early? It's like five in the morning." Yao stated, half asleep.

"I just woke up. I'm not exactly sure why." Ivan tried his best to compose himself and lie.

"Okay. Let's go make coffee or something, since neither of us are going to back to bed." The male sat up and got out of bed.

Ivan bit his lip in irritation. He didn't even mean to wake the other up, but now he was stuck having to go and socialize. Not that he had anything else to do, anyway. Reluctantly, the Russian followed Yao down the stairs into the kitchen.

When he walked into the kitchen, he already found the onyx-haired male fiddling with the kitchen appliances, so he didn't even say a word. Considering how tired Ivan was, he decided it would be a good idea to let the other make food for once. After all, Chinese food really was amazing.

Not giving it a second thought, Ivan rested his head on the table, looking out the window onto the freshly fallen snow.

"It's a wonderful sight." Yao stated, gazing at the window as well. Although Ivan took notice of him, he didn't even turn his head in the other's direction.

"If it keeps snowing, we won't be able to get in or out of the house. Not to mention the freezing temperatures." The blonde remarked.

"You can't be serious. It's not physically possible for the snow to pile up so high in such a short matter of time." The Chinese male scoffed, looking at the snow with great disbelief.

"It won't be for a short time. Once it starts snowing in this region, it doesn't stop."

"Things are going to get tough for all of us then." The coffee was boiling in its brewer and Yao did his best to evenly pour it into two small cups. As soon as he turned to the table, he saw a large bottle of vodka standing smack in the center. 

"What is this?" He asked, unsure of how to react.

"A quick remedy for depression." Ivan gestured for the other to sit next to him, and as soon as he did, the blonde dispensed the alcohol into the coffee, filling his cup to the top.

"You want some?" A bottle of Winter Road vodka stood right in front of Yao, and even though his life was in shatters at the moment, he couldn't let himself drink away the pain. The Chinese would rather face his problems head on.

"No thanks. I'm fine." He closed his eyes, taking a sip of the hot coffee.

“Alright.” Ivan drank the whole cup in a single go and practically slammed it on the table.

“You ever been outside in the Russian winter?” He asked.

“No. Not that I would remember.” Yao replied, shaken.

“Well, then we’re going right now.” The blonde stated and got out from the table.

“You actually want to go outside in the storm?” Realizing that Ivan was most likely drunk, Yao moved his cup away from reach and tried his best to keep the other in control.

“I don't want to, I need to.” The Russian looked at his housemate with crazed and pleading eyes. Weighing out both options, the Chinese came to a realization that it would be best to go with the other. Ivan would soon get cold, especially in his intoxicated state, and they would head back inside.

"Fine then, let's get going." Yao could see the blonde's eyes light up as the two piled out of the kitchen, and grabbed their coats. Coats that they found in a dresser of the residence, and although Ivan's sisters claimed that some of the coats belong to them, the other ones were placed at random. The brunette cautiously looked over to his partner who was giving a small laugh, a rather manic one, for that matter. After constantly telling himself that there was nothing to be afraid of and that there were seven more people in the residence, Yao gathered up the courage to follow Ivan out the terrace door, then out the main one.

"Ah, this feels just like that day." The blonde satisfyingly stated, a warm smile gracing his lips. It was a smile of someone who had found their lost love. Surely, Ivan had seen enough snow for three lifetimes since his childhood, but something about this particular scene brought back that feeling inside him. 

He started taking slow steps down the wooden stairs which creaked beneath him, taking time to appreciate every second of the atmosphere. Ivan could place today's happenings with the ones that occurred on the day he dreamt about side by side, and they would be almost the same. Except he had grown up, and far too many things have changed since then. Almost as if someone, or rather, something, was pushing him towards doing the action, he grabbed a fistful of snow, which stayed solid in his now large hand, and examined every millimeter of the substance. Tears pricking at his eyes, Ivan repeated the words.

"So beautiful." The male squeezed the snowball as tightly as his body allowed him to, and opened his palm again, "yet so cold."

A devilish smile creeping onto Ivan's face could foretell what was going to happen next. With the speed of a bullet, he turned around and flung the snow at Yao, who yelped and looked at his partner in confusion.

"Ivan, what the-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as another chunk of snow was thrown at him. This time, landing on his face.

"I'll get you back for this!" He screeched and using all abilities he had, gathered up the snow next to him and aimlessly tossed it at the other, not even close. The sight looked rather strange from a different point of view: two grown men, playing a snow fight as if they were children. But at that moment, in their hearts, they were. That was until a tired and irritated voice yelled from above.

"Hey! Would you two stop prancing around like drunk gopniks and get back into the house? Some people are trying to sleep at six in the morning." The duo shot up their heads to see Gilbert with an unamused expression on his face, calling out from his bedroom window which faced the outside, followed by a string of curses from Ivan's sister, who shared a room with him, as the second province. 

"There's food in the kitchen." Yao tried to compensate, but the albino shot him a glare and shut the window.

"Don't pay too much attention, he's always like this." Ivan carelessly commented and looked up at the sunrise.

"Don't you think he gets irritated sometimes? Not with you in particular, but maybe with the things that have happened over the course of the past eighty years?" Yao asked, cringing slightly as he remembered that the blonde wasn't in full control of himself.

"Well, who's the one to blame for that? We're the personifications of countries, we've been to hell and back, we've seen it all- I've seen it all. And I don't feel guilty whatsoever, although I do pity him. Gilbert didn't deserve what he got, but neither did the rest of us." 

Taken aback by the detailed and surprisingly calm reply, Yao found himself agreeing to it. Neither of the two spoke as they indulged in a comforting silence of the winter sunrise. 

"It's getting cold, let's go inside." The Chinese suggested, as they laid in the snow, but his partner didn't move a centimeter. He just lay in the snow, eyes peacefully closed, taking deep breaths of the morning air.

"Okay, come on." After a few seconds, the other responded and stood up, brushing the snow off of his beige trenchcoat.

The two walked into the terrace, then the kitchen. To their surprise, they weren't the only ones who were up: the two provinces sat at the table, eating the leftovers from the previous day. As soon as Ivan and Yao appeared in his eyesight, Gilbert turned to them with a harsh glare.

"Wow, you actually came back. I was thinking that you would get hypothermia and die. Even though that wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing: we'd have decent food to eat." The two were shocked at his words, even the tone he stated them in was every bit serious.

"Shut your mouth and be thankful that you have food to eat, unlike the citizens of this country." Lena chimed in to defend her brother, but at her heart she knew that their rations were going to end soon, and they'd be left to starve if they didn't do anything about it.

"Look who's talking! The personification with the smallest population in this whole house! I think your miserable six hundred thousand citizens will be just fine!" Gilbert hissed the insult at the brunette. The fact came out of nowhere, and even though everyone was aware of it, no one ever stated it out loud. The albino's sudden outburst surprised Lena completely, leaving her astonished with how the person she helped so many times in the past could offend her like that.

"Apologize to her." Ivan stated firmly. Although he more or less tried to control it, his dark side would slip out every now and then. Those times usually happened when his sisters were hurt.

"Why should I?" The albino averted his gaze back to the Russian.

"Because if you don't, I'll do the same thing I did seventy years ago." Gilbert's eyes widened as the bigger male advanced towards him. All hope seemed to be lost before a voice from the staircase.

"Good morning to you, too." The four turned to the direction of the voice to find a shaken, but confident Katerina, and a sleepy Natalia standing next to her, a weary glint in her eyes.

"Доброе утро." Ivan mumbled as he snapped back into sanity. The other people present sighed in relief, and continued their tasks in silence. Not too long after the Braginsky sisters made their appearance, the three Baltics reluctantly made their way into the dining room as well. A typical scene in the household could be seen: the nine sat at the breakfast table, with barely enough food to feed them all on their plates, as they discussed the upcoming day's plans. They couldn't waste a second.

"Okay, we have two places we haven't looked at yet. The servants’ quarters and the Woodstock. Any suggestions as of where we could go next?” 

“I don't think that's too good of an idea. If we open the Woodstock, we’ll have to use up the wood there. I have no idea as of when this whole chaos will end, and how many more winters we will have to endure. We can't waste anything.” Ivan shook his head. It was true: they had February, the coldest month of the year, coming up, and they had to brace themselves.

“Servants’ quarters it is, then.” Yao set the final word and looked over to see if anyone disagreed. Of course, no one ever did, except for Ivan and Gilbert, although even that rarely happened. No protest, no reply, and they left the kitchen, and then the house.

The servants' quarters was a small parchment-colored building with a garnet roof over it. Since it was never particularly used, except to stock up things that didn't fit in the main house, it was rather clean. It was built in two stories: one as the main floor and the other being the attic. For the time being, that was everything the personifications knew about the house: all of their knowledge came from the Braginsky siblings, who had visited the residence before.

"It won't budge." Toris spoke as he tried to open the main door.

"Let me try." Gilbert moved up the stairs and prepared to punch his way into the damned house. Just as he was getting ready to aim, he was stopped.

"You won't open it by brute force. Whoever used this before didn't want anyone else to get inside." The albino was surprised enough to see Natalia holding him back. The Belarusian girl moved him out of the way and pointed to a short handgrip sticking out of the lock.

"The door is locked from inside. Someone broke a fork in half and stuck the handle between the tines. The part that's sticking out is the neck of the fork. I know how to move it, so allow me." She knelt down and started fiddling with the lock, as the other members of the group stood in shock, "I used to lock doors like this too." Natalia mumbled and stood up, the fork falling to her feet, and a small smile appearing on her lips, "Let's go."

As she took a deep breath, the blonde gently opened the door, bracing herself for some kind of an attack. But the house was, thankfully, empty. Nothing but a table with a blue rope hanging off of it. There were some writing utensils, as well as crumpled pieces of paper. Ivan knelt down to get a couple, and unwillingly unraveled them to be scribbles of words, written in a letter-like manner.

"This one is in Latvian." He looked over to Raivis, who froze in fear at the older's words.

"What could've they possibly wanted to say in Latvian?" Katerina leaned over to read the boy's letter, even though she didn't fully understand the language.

"Same thing they wanted to say in Russian and Ukrainian." Ivan dumbfoundedly handed the letter to his sister, whose look consisted of confusion and shock. Eventually, it was evident that the author wrote a letter to everyone in the Soviet Union. The letter was mostly gibberish, as the author's handwriting was messy and unreadable. Although some parts of the letter were understandable, such as 'metaphors are for the intelligent', 'you must not make the mistake', and 'unlimited knowledge'. The personifications were already uneasy coming here, and these letters were definitely not making the situation better.

"We need to get into the next room." The male walked to the wooden sangria door, and without consulting his housemates, pushed on the doorknob as hard as possible, at which the door let out a small groan and cracked open. When Ivan opened the door, a smell of rotting mass, old books, and rusted metal could be sensed throughout the house. Hesitating only the slightest, Ivan took a step into the small space and his amethyst eyes widened at the discovery the group had just made.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter was too large to fit in one 
> 
> c': bless


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7  
The personifications stepped into the room in shock and repulse. There, in the midst of the already small room was a massive collection of books. Ivan walked up to the bookshelf and pulled out one of the works and opened it. The pages were covered with dust, and the blonde cleared the front page.   
"This is Преступление и Наказание. The original." He stated in awe and traced the handwritten letters. The book itself was written in 1866, and the original was kept here, in the middle of nowhere this whole time. After examining a few more books, the group figured that this was a collection of original Russian classics. Someone took the time to assemble all of them in one place.  
"Hey, there's something in the corner." Raivis noted, looking around the room thoroughly. He had a bad feeling about the thing, but made an effort to comment on it anyway. The personifications glanced at the corner, to see a dark outline of a figure, most of it hidden behind a bookshelf. Their hearts sank: if there was something alive in this house, they were for sure going to have trouble on their hands. Although the figure was outnumbered, if it had any weapons, the nine would be faced with a challenge. Ivan's mind raced back to the time when Katerina told him something about there being a large amount of weapons in the residence. Most likely, they were going to need them.   
No one from the group had the courage to face the figure first, and they stood frozen in shock and fear. Yao, being the oldest one, decided that he should do it, and the rest would back him up if needed. The Chinese male slowly walked up to the bookshelf. Bracing himself for any oncoming impact, Yao took a shaky breath and thrust the shelf to the side, only to reveal an old, already rotten mass of a skeleton, in dark, worn out clothes, its arms lowered, as if it were protecting something. The ebony-haired male let out a yelp of surprise and terror: such an unexpected discovery was rather disturbing, while the group behind him cringed and stared at the sight in disgust and horror. They've all seen the familiar things before, it wasn't uncommon to see the remains of a human as a personification, but this wasn't the time or place to see one.  
"It's hiding something." Toris pointed at a small vault-like compartment in the wall, which stood out due to its pearly white color among the dark walls.   
"Someone has to move the... thing, so we can see what it is." Natalia commented with repulse. She has always been more on the dark side of things, but her mind wandered only at the thoughts of there being more of the human remains over the residence. One of them might even be present in their own room, and they just didn't know. The Belarusian made a mental note to herself to check the dressers and closets of all rooms once they were finished with this.  
As on cue to her phrase, Gilbert advanced towards the carcass, and shoved it into the shelf nearby, sending bits of bone and cloth flying into all directions.   
"What the hell was that for?!" Ivan exclaimed, irritated with the fact that a personification would disrespect the deceased in such ways.  
"That thing is too much of an eyesore. It gives off a bad feeling, don't question me." The albino was breathing heavily now, and he seemed glad but slightly terrified with his own actions.  
"What matters now is that we have access to the vault." Yao interrupted the intense conversation and knelt down to the small metal door. He felt relief wash over him as soon as he realized that that the vault didn't have a lock of any sort. The group anticipated what might have been hidden in the space. It was small, about the size of one and a half of a human hand.  
"It's just a bag." Yao stated with disappointment and pulled out an old cloth bag which was tied at the top with a string.  
"Open it." Natalia urged, and the older reluctantly untied the sack and looked inside, keeping the thing a good distance away from him in case something living was inside. But there was no movement whatsoever. Instead, there was a piece of paper, some gold coins, and a stone of some sort.   
Seeing that Yao was hesitating, Ivan reached inside the bag, reluctantly, even himself. He took out the paper and unraveled it, while the rest gathered around in curiosity.  
"Well, that's a map." Gilbert noted, scanning over the geometric figures aligned in order.  
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious." Lena sarcastically commented,"And not just any map. This looks like what stood here before the war. Look at the mansion, it's in the shape of the Russian letter 'П'. There's the barracks to the left, where the food storage and woodstock now are. And to the right are the servants' quarters which haven't changed position."   
"I'll give you credit there, but why are there marked spots on it? They look like they were made after the map was created." Toris questioned and traced the circles in several places with his hand.   
"I think we should pay some attention to these." Yao held up several coins, which seemed a few centuries old. He brought the money closer to the group to examine it. They were all different, except for one thing that stood out on every one of them: the two-headed eagle of the Russian empire.   
"These look like old rubles." Ivan examined each one thoroughly, "These date back to 1724, and go up to 1915. Someone must have been collecting them for a seriously long time."   
"The stone is a red oval shaped gem. I don't know what to make of this." Yao sighed and handed the blonde a gemstone, at which his eyes widened.  
"This is a red spinel. If my eyes don't deceive me, it's the same exact one as what was on the Russian Imperial Crown."   
"How would that ever be possible?" Gilbert asked, himself knowing that soon after the Russian Revolution, the crown was given to Ireland for a large sum of money.  
"It could've been disassembled, and I think it, in fact, was. Whoever this person was, they had to hold a great position in the office. Select people were allowed to view the crown, let alone touch it. And who in the name of hell would allow themselves take jewels off this crown?" Ivan was furious. He has held the crown in his own hands very few times, he even remembered them all. He was glad, with all his heart, that the person who dared dishonor the Romanov family, and the whole country itself, was now dead.  
"They wanted to keep it safe, Vanya." Katerina placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder, seeing that his knuckles were white from gripping the jewel so hard, "The main gemstone is here, and it's safe with us."  
Ivan understood that his sister was right, so he did not protest when she carefully took the spinel from him and placed it in her coat.  
"Let's get out of here before anything else happens." The Russian stated and started walked towards the door, "Oh, and take some of those books. We have to entertain ourselves in some way."  
***  
"It's a good thing that we decided to go into the servants' quarters and not in the woodstock. Look at all these books! It gets even better knowing that all of these were written by hand!" Katerina cheerfully exclaimed while her youngest sister lay on the bed of their shared room, expressionless.  
"We could've saved some nerve cells and just carried wood. This made matters worse, in my opinion. Who did all of this? Why and how did they do it? This is a just a huge clusterfuck." Natalia rolled over so her face was buried in the sheets, "I'm going to take a nap, Katya."   
Katerina's happy outburst died down at her sister's words, but she accepted her decision.  
"Sleep well, Natasha." She smiled in a motherly fashion.  
But as soon as the blonde turned back to the books, a loud howl emitted from the outside, causing the female to freeze in her tracks.  
"Natasha, did you hear that?" Katerina turned to face the bed, only to find her sister staring at her with widened eyes.  
"What in the bloody fucking world was that?" Natalia was now wide awake, and faced her sister with a look of dread and horror. Katerina stood up and opened the door, finding that the rest of her family heard it as well.   
"Does anyone in this house have a gun?" Lena asked, impatient. The whole house knew that under the Nordic rule and the Russian Empire she trained with her brother, Tino Väinämöinen, the personification of Finland. Although she was nowhere as good as him, the ashen-haired female could most likely shoot down a wolf from a far distance.  
"I know there's a Hatsan 90 in our room, but I doubt it will help." Katerina remarked, as she was the one to take responsibility to examine the house for weapons as soon as the personifications arrived.  
"It will do, are there any bullets?"   
"Yes, but very few." The elder commented.  
"I think I can take this one down in a single shot." The Karelian sighed while her sister quickly got the rifle and pack of bullets from her room.  
"Lena, be careful." Katerina bit her lip as she handed her the items.  
"I will, I promise." Lena nodded and descended down the stairs into the terrace. She moved the blinds only an inch and her expression only turned to confusion, for what stood in front of the house was on a wolf, but in fact, a dog. A German shepherd, to be exact. Its hind leg seemed injured and it limped slowly around the house. Letting pity for this animal in wartime win over the need to shoot, Lena walked outside on the front porch. As soon as the dog spotted her, it started wagging its tail.  
"Bloody hell." Lena muttered, and dropped her gun. She walked towards the dog, and tried her best to lead it on the porch, and into the house. It did not resist at all, and seemed to get attached to the Karelian girl over the course of a few seconds.  
"It's not a wolf." She yelled and her housemates quickly rushed downstairs to see what she meant.   
"Where did you get a dog? Why is it bleeding?" Ivan called out to her from the staircase.  
"It was just there, I couldn't just shoo it off!" Lena responded in the same tone, "Gilbert, you've dealt with things like this before, haven't you?"   
The albino descended down the stairs and took a closer look at the dog.  
"That's a bullet wound, but it's not the worst case scenario, thankfully. I just need to clean it, and the process of healing can begin." He began leading the dog into the downstairs washroom.   
As soon as the albino was out of the group's sight, Ivan turned to his sister.  
"Lena, we can barely feed ourselves. We physically can't support a dog." He sighed with irritation.  
"Do you not remember what happened to animals in the last World War? If there's a dog in this hellhole, it had to come from Petersburg. Or Vologda, that's closer, isn't it?" She replied, recalling cities near the residence.  
"Or it could've just come from a nearby village. I know the nearest one is only thirty kilometers away. We should return it."  
"If it came from somewhere, it was definitely not needed there." Lena glared at her brother, "Do whatever you want, it's not my problem. I agreed to shoot down a wolf, and nothing other than that."  
With those words the ashenette turned to the staircase and walked up to her room, slamming the door.  
“I know we can’t afford to have a dog right now, but I think Lena is right. Dogs are useful in combat, not to mention that German Shepherds are amazing guard dogs.” Toris suggested. The rest of the group turned to him with surprise, as he, or any of the Baltic brothers usually didn’t speak out against Ivan.   
“That doesn’t make the main problem less important. We don’t have enough consumables.” Ivan glared at the brunette for making him repeat himself.  
“С миру по нитке- нищему рубаха. Isn’t that what they say here?” Gilbert walked out of the washroom with his sleeves rolled up and his signature smirk plastered across his face, “I also suggest we keep the dog. It’s a she, if anything.”   
“It’s not like we can throw the dog away when we fix her up. It’s rather inhumane, even for us, don’t you think?” Yao agreed with the previous two before him. Ivan turned to his sisters to at least have them agree. But the two were fidgeting with their hands with uneasy looks.  
“If we do keep her,” Natalia started, and looked her brother right in the eye, “Can we name her Zvezda?”   
Any sign of backup was lost at that point, so Ivan sighed and looked over his family.   
“Fine, let her stay.” Seven pairs of eyes lit up at the phrase and the blonde glanced at the clock, “It’s six in the evening. I’m going to my room, and I suggest you do so too.”  
Just as he was walking up the stairs, Ivan heard the distant laughter of his housemates, and the joyous barking of their new dog. They would most likely regret the choice later, but that didn’t matter at the moment. What really mattered is that the lonesome house was filled with happiness and bliss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are getting seriously short dear lord  
> On a side note, leave some reviews! It'd be pretty dank.


	8. Chapter 8

Barking, through dead of the night woke up the young Karelian girl. Unsure about it at first, she began to closely listen again. Of course, there it was. Their dog, Zvezda, was barking as loudly as ever. Taking quiet, minuscule steps, in an attempt not to wake up her roommate and possibly not to let whatever Zvezda was barking at notice her, Lena crept up to the window and looked through a small space in the blinds. There, in the cold, dark night, stood exactly two bright lights near the gate of the residence. A car. Someone had discovered their whereabouts. Not even a split second later, Lena was in attempts to wake up the albino, which didn't take too long.  
"Gil. Gilbert, wake up." She whisper-yelled.  
"What? Lena, what the hell is going on?" The male mumbled sleepily.  
"Listen, there's a car near the gates and I have no idea who or what is in it. If it's the States, we're done for." She frantically pointed in the direction of the window. Gilbert didn't take long to register the fact, and leaped out of bed, looking through the window for himself. Sure enough, the car was still there.  
"Lena, wake up your brother and Yao. I'll tell you if it starts moving near the house." He commanded, not taking his ruby eyes off the sight. Lena nodded and darted into the neighboring room.  
"Vanya, there's someone at the gates. They're in a car." She shook her brother awake.  
"You have got to be kidding. How would anyone find us?" Ivan didn't move an inch, his cheeks rosy and his voice in a daze-like state.  
"Still drunk, are we? It's kinda sad that I have a bastard for a brother." She angrily spat and continued her efforts to wake up her brother's partner.  
"Yao, you need to wake up right now." Lena had lost her patience and tore the blanket off of the Chinese male, making him sit up in annoyance.  
"I went to bed at three in the morning, Lena. Let me sleep."  
"You'll both be sleeping in your graves soon if you don't get up right this second and see what the shit is going on." She stated strictly, placing her arms on her hips. Sighing, Yao got out of bed and walked to the window, opening the blinds completely, the dim front yard's landscape uncovering itself.  
"What are you doing?! Are you trying to place the final nail in our coffins?!" Lena threw the blinds shut, but Yao just stood there, a terrified look on his face, staring into blank space. He seemed to hold his breath, and he could've sworn that his heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, he charged back to the bed, picking up Ivan by the collar of his shirt.  
"Get the hell up! The States are here!" Yao yelled, the Russian male opened his eyes as fast as a bullet, standing up himself, but almost falling, for the alcohol hadn't completely washed out of his system yet.  
"What? Why didn't you tell me before?" He exclaimed, as Lena just looked at him in disbelief.  
"Look, we have to make a decision fast. Are we going to go out and get shot or stay here and protect the things and people we hold dear?" She asked, crossing her arms.  
"Luckily for us, I don't hold things dear." The group turned to see Gilbert at the door, "I hold guns instead."  
The albino pulled out a sniper rifle, two AK-102s, and an IG-38, "You know, this place isn't so bad when you find an arsenal of weapons behind the dresser."  
"I'm not even sure if that's a good or a bad thing." Lena commented.  
"Maybe both, but that's not the point here." Gilbert walked up to the group, weapons in hand, "Alright, so Ivan, Yao, and I will slowly approach the car, but we don't let them know of our presence, and Lena will cover us from the second roof. If it's the States, we shoot and call everyone else for backup, there's enough weapons in here for a single troop."  
"And what if it's not?"  
"Then we don't attack immediately, but still be cautious. Don't reveal any information that might be useful for our enemies, and also try not to wake anyone else up unless it's a critical situation." He tossed the guns to the baffled trio.  
"Can't we just go back to sleep and pretend we didn't see anything? I don't want to make an elephant out of a mouse." Lena asked, looking over the sniper rifle doubtfully.  
"Unless you want to wake up at the gates of hell, no." Gilbert proclaimed, and turned towards the door, motioning for the group to follow.  
***  
"This might not have been the best idea." Yao commented as he, Ivan, and Gilbert leaned against the outer wall of the servants' house, close to the car, which was a dark, marshy green, as they figured.  
"It's all we have now." Ivan replied, and pulled his Yota to his lips, "Lena, do you see anything?"  
"No, not right now, but I've got the target acquired." The ashen-haired female leaned into her Samsung, "I'm starting to doubt that there's actually anyone in the car."   
"Put her on speaker." Gilbert demanded, looking over his shoulder. A sigh came from the other end of the call as Ivan tapped the icon.  
"I said, I don't think anyone's in the car. Or they just know how to hide real well. I don't even see any breathing motions."  
"Should we go out and see if it's just a dead body?" Gilbert asked and took the phone into his own hand.  
"Are you out of your mind?! This might be the best spy I've ever seen." The Karelian girl yelled into her speaker.  
"Fine, fine, we won't."   
"Good. I don't- wait a fucking second!" A click of the safety trigger was heard from the other end.  
"Lena?! Lena, what do you see?" Ivan whispered into the phone.  
"I just saw a hand move. I think they're going for the engine." The trio's hearts dropped, "I'm shooting if the car moves even a centimeter."   
"Get your guns ready." The blonde whispered to his partners. He was stuck in the middle, with Gilbert closest to the car, AK in hand, and Yao behind him with the IG. Ivan gripped his own AK tightly as he placed it in the correct position, his phone balancing on his shoulder.  
The four watched the car like vultures looking at their prey, waiting for any sort of movement. The whole residence grew silent before the car abruptly drove forward at a moderate speed.  
Ivan dropped his phone when he heard the rattle of Lena's bullets firing into the tires of the car, seemingly over a thousand bullets were fired at once.  
"Go!" Gilbert yelled and whipped out the AK-102, firing a round in the back window, while Ivan aimed for the engine. Yao shot the IG twice into the rearview mirrors of the car.   
"I'm going to see what it is." Ivan stated and started towards the car.  
"Are you crazy?! There's a spy in there." Gilbert pulled him back by the shoulder.  
"I'm pretty sure that whatever is in the car can't move anymore." Ivan reloaded his AK and paced over to the passenger seat window.  
"Make no movements or I'll shoot!" He yelled, pointing the gun at the driver.  
"I wasn't even trying to before you scared the living shit out of me." A young voice shakily spoke. Gilbert and Yao joined the blonde.  
"Hey, I've seen you before!" Yao exclaimed, and ravaged through his brain to remember who the man was exactly.  
"I've seen you too. I dropped you off at the hotel, remember? I'm Alexei." The man cracked a smile.  
"Well you're a taxi driver, what are you doing on secret government headquarters?" Yao asked impatiently.  
"They didn't have anyone else. Everyone is either scared, sick, or dead. I've had my own share of battlefield troubles, you know?" Alexei turned the right side of his face to the trio, revealing a large burn, bandaged in some places.  
"Holy shit, that looks painful." Gilbert winced at the injury.  
"I've gotten used to it. I was driving in Omsk when those bastard Yankees tried to gas the whole city." He angrily spat the insult.  
"Hey! Why are you talking to the spy?" Lena walked up to the group and shoved the muzzle of the rifle into the passenger seat.  
"Lena, it's not a spy. Just a taxi driver." Yao pushed the gun away, as he stood closest to the female.  
"What the hell is a taxi driver doing here?" She took the weapon back, but didn't switch safety off.  
"Someone needed to get you consumables, and there was no one else except the taxi driver." Alexei said with annoyance since he just answered the same question.  
"Ah. Well, we kind of ruined your car. Sorry about that." She nervously chuckled.  
"I hope that what's in the trunk didn't get ruined too." The brunette got out of the car and walked up to the trunk, "Yep, the car is finished."   
"We can fix it. Hopefully." Gilbert offered, despite not actually knowing how to complete his offer.  
"I'd be very thankful." Alexei opened the trunk, revealing tens of packs of frozen goods, sixteen 5 liter bottles of water, medical supplies, and more, "You nine get more supplies than most of Omsk. Sheesh."  
"Are you from there or something?" Gilbert asked with this usual snarky tone.  
"Yes, actually. I don't come from a very rich family, so I went to work as a taxi driver in Moscow. I usually go there once every month or two."  
"You have family there, don't you?" Ivan melancholically questioned, remembering the sight he saw in Istra.  
"I do. I share an apartment with my siblings and aunt. My mother used to live with us too, but she died of radiation from the dropped bombs." Alexei clenched his fists, "That's why I joined the armed forces. I want to get back at every single bastard that killed anyone on this land."  
"That's a very noble task." Yao did his best to not let the man see that he was telling complete lies. It was rather ridiculous to join the massacre. 'Fight fire with fire' did not make any sense to the Chinese male. Although, personifications have done so far too many times as well.  
"Thanks." The brunette picked up boxes of food and placed them onto the fresh-fallen snow.  
"Do you want to come inside?" Ivan offered.  
"Oh, I wish I could, but I can't. I have lots of jobs that need doing in Moscow."  
"Just for tea. I insist." Gilbert and Lena looked at the champagne-haired male in disbelief, but didn't protest.  
"Alright. But you'll have to help me carry the boxes in." Alexei gestured to the trunk.  
***  
"What happened?! Why did we hear gunshots?" Katerina rushed over to the group once they set foot in the house.  
"And who's that?" Natalia pointed at the dumbfounded brunette.   
"It's a long story. Let's go to the dining room, and we'll explain everything." Ivan assured her, and motioned for the other three to follow.  
This whole commotion happened because the second roof where Lena was shooting was right next to Katerina and Natalia's room, and woke them up. The Baltic state personifications were woken up as well, for they were never able to sleep heavily after the Soviet occupation.  
The ten people sat around the kitchen table, the kettle heating up on the stove.   
"We woke up because Lena said that there was someone in a car at the gates, so we immediately assumed that it was the States. Gilbert found a stash of weapons, and we decided to sneak up on the car. The gunshots you heard were Lena's since she was positioned on the second roof, but maybe you heard ours too. The car turned out to actually be filled with consumables for us. He was driving it, since there was no one else that could." Ivan retold the story and pointed at the brunette next to him.  
"I'm Alexei, if you don't know yet." He smiled awkwardly, for the five were looking at him with great distrust.  
"So you're saying that there's no one else to drive?" Katerina asked, distressed.  
"Everyone else is either sick or dead." Alexei responded in the same tone.  
"Tell me honestly, are we losing the war?" Gilbert bit his lip after asking the question, this was no time to bring down everyone's spirits.  
A sigh came from the green eyed male, "It's been going on for only three months, so it's too early to say whether we are or not, but the States have technology that's nowhere near ours. They're bringing in their allies too, and if Europe joins the war, we'll be in deep shit."  
A quite, unnerving silence arose in the room, and the personifications were horror-struck. If they lost the war, most of the population would be dead. They couldn't afford to have more blood on their hands.  
"But I heard the Kremlin are coming up with a plan. It's secret, and I don't know much about it, but the only thing I know is that it's our last resort."  
"How far West are the States?" Toris asked, understanding that if Russia was to be fully occupied, the Baltic states would be too. But that's rather unlikely for they are fully independent from Russia. Still, seeing that the personifications are hell knows where in this country, no one knew what would happen.  
"As far as I know, they're in Omsk. The Kremlin are sending another battalion tomorrow, all with Armatas." Alexei sighed.  
"Did they nuke anyone yet?" Natalia asked, frightened for the response to come.  
"No, but they will if the States move farther than the Ural mountains. We've got good defense in Siberia, so they're mainly in the Southeast.", He attempted to lighten the mood, "But how do you not know all this? Whenever we ask the officials about you, they say that you're being communicated with via special equipment."  
"Are you sure this guy is a reliable source?" Gilbert whispered to Yao quite loudly, and the Chinese male irritably nodded.  
"I'm entirely sure I'm a reliable source." The brunette crossed his arms.  
"Well the Kremlin hadn't said a word to us since we came here." Ivan stated, sighing. He did not understand why the Kremlin would lie to their people, and most importantly, the actual personification of Russia.  
"Honestly, I'm not even surprised. They've become shady after the war began, never telling anyone what's really going on." Alexei placed his arms behind his neck, not being able to fully relax.  
"You should go rest. You've gone a long way if you're driving from the Kremlin, almost 800 kilometers. We'll start repairing your car in the meantime." The blonde stated.  
"If that's alright with you, then sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in like December oml


	9. Chapter 9

_ "Come downstairs, I ve got presents for you." A loud voice echoed through the vast hallways of the house. If communism was about equality for all, something was not right with this "family". They gained money, property, and status just by existing. But if that did bother anyone, they were not to speak out unless they wanted a punishment that even the devil wouldn't give. Whenever the head of the house said anything in such a tone, it meant punishment. This is why the three Baltic brothers hesitated going out of their room. _

_ "Don't make me repeat myself." The voice yelled in a harsher tone, and the three glanced at each other in fear before exiting their room. _

_ "Why do you think Comrade Braginsky wants from us at this time? It's New Year's Eve, why can't we celebrate it in peace?" Raivis, the youngest one of the three asked, glancing up at the other two. _

_ "I really don't know. I'm sorry." Eduard sighed and walked into the main room of the house, to find the others sitting around a large round table with calm expressions. _

_ "What is this?" Toris asked, staring down everyone in the room. There were only five people total: Ivan himself, his three sisters, and Gilbert, who was apparently released from the hell he was kept in- God bless him. _

_ "Sit here." The tall blond, who seemed to tower over the table pointed to three empty chairs near the exit. Reluctantly, the brothers uncomfortably sat down in the seats.  _

_ "Today is New Year's Eve." Ivan proclaimed, looking over the group before him, "My sisters and I always celebrated it together, and now that our family has increased, I decided that we should celebrate it with each other. Isn't that a good idea?" _

_ No one dared protest. The infamous gas pipe stood next to the Russian, almost challenging the rest. But they had their fair share of 'meetings' with the thing, and weren't planning on make any more. _

_ "Here, Comrade Stalin will be giving his speech soon." Ivan turned on the radio and the eight listened to New Years music in an awkward silence, each staring either into space or at the plates and bowls filled with food in front of them, that no one dared touch. _

_ "Eat something, at least. My sisters spent the whole day making New Year's food." The blond stated and motioned over to the food. _

_ Unwillingly, the others took small portions of the food and slowly ate. This seemed to displease Ivan, as he was hoping to celebrate the holiday happily with his now bigger family, and the rest didn't look like they wanted to do so. Before he could say anything, though, a familiar voice erupted in the radio speakers. _

_ "Dear citizens of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. I congratulate all of you with the end of another year in our great country..." The group piped up at the voice, and listened carefully to the message, even though it was the same every year. _

_ Soon after the speech, the ticking of the Kremlin's clock was heard. Ironically enough, it was heard not only in the radio, but outside of the apartment as well. Ivan used this time to grab the bottle of luxurious champagne from the table, and began counting with the rest of the group.  _

_ As soon as the clock hit twelve strikes, the cap of the champagne bottle flew across the room, and loud cheering was heard outside. The anthem of the Soviet Union began playing over the radio, and was heard in the walls of the Kremlin, as well. Surprisingly enough, the holiday atmosphere spread into the apartment as well, for most of the personifications managed to at least crack a smile, and some were congratulating each other on finishing another year. And despite all recent events, from the side, the group certainly looked like one happy family. _

***

"Stop staring into space and throw another log in the fireplace, would you? The fire will burn out soon if I have to look after both the food and the fireplace." Katerina yelled to her brother as she stirred the potatoes.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about the old times." He tossed a birch log into the fireplace, making the flames burn even brighter. This statement erased his sister's smile completely.

"The past is the past. We have bigger things to worry about now." She took the potatoes from the stove and carefully placed them on a decorated plate.

"You're right. I'm going to get some more firewood. I'll be right back." Ivan stood up and walked out of the kitchen, and towards the front door.

"Not that we needed any." The woman mumbled under her breath. Just as she looked at the spot which her brother just left, the youngest Baltic wandered into the kitchen.

"Raivis, you came in at the exact right time. Try these potatoes, I want to know if they're undercooked or not." Before the Latvian had a chance to react, Katerina already handed him a fork with a potato on it. 

"I guess it wouldn't hurt." Raivis took a small bite out of the vegetable and figured that it was fine as it was, maybe even better than that.

"It tastes great. Your cooking is amazing, Katerina." He stated quietly, with a small smile.

"Thank you. I'll be making food all day, so you can stay here if you'd like." She turned back to the stove and set another pot of water to boil. 

Raivis intently watched the Ukrainian pick out spices and diced cucumbers and tomatoes for what seemed like a salad. Since they received consumables earlier that month, they had a lot of food for the New Year's dinner. Although it was much less than what they had before the war, it was more than what they usually ate since its beginning.

"Katerina, do you think that the president of this country is going to give a speech this year? Will there even be anything of the sort?" The blond asked as he leaned against the back of the wooden chair.

"I doubt that the president will give his speech, but I think that they'll do the twelve strikes of the Kremlin clock. It's been a tradition for over a hundred years, I don't think they'll discontinue it." Katerina replied and mixed the salad.

At this moment, the kitchen door flew open to reveal Ivan in a large fur coat, carrying a stack of firewood. He dumped the logs near the fireplace, not caring to properly stack them. Raivis flinched at the sound, but didn't say a word. He never warmed up to the Russian, even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

"Don't throw the firewood like that, I almost dropped the salad. Not to mention that you'll wake up everyone." Katerina sighed in annoyance, and carefully placed the bowl into the fridge.

"It seems that I apologize every time I come into the dining room." The blond gave a small laugh, and went to the wardrobe to take off his coat.

"Don't pay his antics attention. I don't think that's something Ivan can even control." Katerina sighed, and sat down in a chair next to Raivis, who was still shaken.

The Latvian nodded and eased into the chair once again. The kitchen door opened again, but instead of Ivan, the person walking through it was Natalia.

"Morning." She mumbled sleepily and sat on a bench that went around the table.

"Good morning. Do you want anything to eat?" Katerina turned to face her youngest sister.

"Yeah, I want chocolate pudding with чернослив." She stated firmly, smiling. Katerina, on the other hand, frowned. Even though they had consumables, they were mainly non-perishables, such as rice and noodles. Such luxuries weren't included.

"I don't have that, but I can give you fried potatoes." She pointed to the food she just finished cooking.

"Why even ask if you only have potatoes? Только картофель и едим." Natalia glared at her sister, who sighed and handed her the food.

"Can I have some, too?" Raivis asked quietly.

"Of course you can." She replied with a smile and handed him a plate. The two ate in silence while Katerina worked on the salad.

At this time Ivan entered the kitchen and sat down beside his sister, who only moved closer to him. He considered moving across from her, to where Raivis was sitting, but Katerina already set a plate full of potatoes in front of him. It was tradition in their family that once food is in front of you, you have to stay where you are until you eat it. Ivan wasn't too eager to break the tradition, so he picked up the fork and began eating.

***

"Aren't you glad that it stopped snowing? We would've had to spend the entire day shoveling the walkways if it didn't." Toris inquired, him always trying to stay on the bright side of things, even if the situation at hand was as bad as it could get. Thankfully, right now, it wasn't. He, Eduard, and the provinces were sent to shovel the walkways of the residence, as it snowed heavily during the night. It took a lot of convincing and listening to Gilbert's rants about how Ivan couldn't "shovel his own damn walkways", but in the end, they agreed.

"You don't have to be so enthusiastic about this." Eduard replied, irritated not only about the fact that he was basically repeating what happened in the Soviet Union, but also about his brother's reaction.

"He's right, it would've been better if it didn't snow in the first place." Gilbert found himself agreeing with the Estonian, "Lena, couldn't you waste Stalin's money by rebuilding a residence in a warmer place, like Konigsberg, for example?" 

"If this residence was in Konigsberg, we'd all be dead by now." The Karelian replied. It was difficult to explain why she used the Prussian term for the city, instead of calling it Kaliningrad, its current name. 

"You would be. I would be with my brother, and I'd probably be fighting against your countries." Gilbert set down the shovel and looked at the sky, which was covered in thick clouds, "I remember when Ludwig was younger, and we'd celebrate New Year's together. We would eat lentil soup with Wurst and carp, and before we went to bed, I remember making Kaffee und Kuchen for him. Ludwig always insisted on doing Bleigiessen, and he was always so amazed at what shape the lead took. We would often hear the cannons fire during the first minute of the New Year. It was wonderful."

"I see you really miss your brother." Toris looked at the other with knowing eyes, remembering the traditions he and his own brothers had for New Year's.

"I do. I miss him more than anything." Gilbert smiled half-heartedly, "Hey, I know you're not supposed to tell anyone your New Year's wishes, but I trust you three. I feel like I can share it with you," The others, bitter and irritated, suddenly became confused, and somewhat even flattered, and tuned into what the now widely smiling Prussian had to say, his shovel now on the ground, and his ruby eyes peacefully closed, "Before I die, I want to see Ludwig one last time. I don't care if he doesn't want to see me, or if he even doesn't notice me. I just want to know that he's safe, despite everything happening. I really do love him." 

The three were left speechless with this sudden confession. This usually defensive and unruly male was smiling at the sky, or at whatever he was imagining, with such radiance, it make them uneasy. An innocent sight, at first glance, but far too innocent for this situation.

"We've been outside for too long. Let's go inside before the hypothermia gets to us. Especially you, Gilbert." Lena cautiously stated and pointed in the direction of the house, to which the Baltic brothers agreed, and the group left their shovels near the guest house, pacing over to the main one.

***

"This tree looks so dull, it's making me feel like the world is about to end." Ivan complained like a young child, his cheeks rosy red from not only the vodka he drank before the main feast, but also from the cold he and Yao just came back from, trying to find the best New Year's tree for this year. 

"The tree is fine as it is, Ivan." Yao replied as he continued hanging pine cones and Chinese origami he had made the day prior, wanting to decorate the tree as much as they could.

"We should've at least brought lights for the tree with us when we came here. Alexei could've brought them, too. It's so unusual without the formal decorations." The Russian continued ranting, looking at the tree angrily.

"I'm certain that both us and Alexei had better things to worry about when we came here. This will have to do for now." Yao didn't even look in the other's direction, whose expression became almost expressionless.

"I guess you're right. But having folded papers on the tree doesn't seem serious to me." This phrase from the blond set off everything Yao had tried to hold down for the entire conversation.

"Look, the tree is fine, okay? The only thing that isn't serious is the fact that you can't accept living in conditions even slightly less privileged than what you're used to." The Chinese man  turned to the other, giving him a glare. The expression of childish unhappiness on Ivan's face was replaced by surprise and even disappointment. Truly, Yao didn't mean to upset Ivan, but both men were on the verge of a mental breakdown from the pressure since Alexei's arrival, and both dealt with it differently. While Ivan completely indulged himself in alcohol and forgot his troubles for a period of time, Yao wanted to face the problem head on, and to not stray from the plan. The only thing wrong with his tactic was that the problem they had to deal with was too big to face, and there was no plan to stray from. As far as they were concerned, the only thing they had to do was stay alive as long as possible. Maybe Yao had been wrong all along, and it was Ivan who dealt with the stress better? The Chinese male shook the thought out of his head, the angered expression leaving his face.

"I can accept that." Ivan tried as best as he could to hide his previous state and narrowed his eyes at the other.

"I know you can. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that there's too much going on right now." Ivan gave an understanding look to his partner, who had suddenly come with an apology, "The broadcast should begin soon, don't you think we should gather everyone?"

"You're right. I'll get them. Set the radio up, please." Ivan stood up and walked out of the room, headed to search for the rest of the group. When he was certain that the blond had left without any trouble, Yao reached for the small Soviet radio on the windowsill. It was a gift from Alexei, who gave it to the personifications before he left back to the Kremlin. He had told them that they needed it more than he did, as they had no outside communication. It was an old thing, but it worked. The only thing he had to do was to get it to the correct station.

***

The fire crackled in the chimney while the personifications sat around the wooden table. Food that was prepared by Katerina and Natalia was placed in a circle around a bottle of a single bottle of champagne, courtesy of a kind taxi driver from the Kremlin. Although the radio sometimes cut to static for a few seconds, the music coming from it was just like every year before the war. No one spoke, and there was no need to. Some were actually interested in hearing the lyrics of the same New Year's songs, while some reminisce about the old times. Regardless of whatever each one of them did, all listened when the country's President spoke over the radio.

"Dear citizens of the Russian Federation! In a few minutes, we will be living in a New Year. A New Year for new beginnings, new meetings, and new victories. I would like to thank you for your courageous act of defending your motherland from the enemy. Although this war has not gone on for long, many lives were lost, both of our people and of our allies. Let us have a moment to remember all of them."

A few seconds of silence.

"We will not allow the enemy to ruin any more lives, families, and cities. We will defend this country, no matter what. So let us celebrate this holiday with our friends and family. Happy New Year, everybody!"

A smile crossed the nine's faces as they took in the familiar voice, making the situation seem like it happened during a peaceful time. If it were not for the words he spoke, no one would be able to tell the difference. Even though the words coming from the man were not what one would expect to hear in a New Year's speech, it made the personifications feel more at home than they had during any time after the war.

The Kremlin's clock began ticking, and at this point some of the personifications were seconds away from a breakdown. This procedure was made with such similarity to the one during the time of peace. Some were counting the strikes in their head, some under their breath, but all of them were counting nonetheless.

Ten, eleven, twelve.

The cap to the champagne flew across the dining room, slamming into the door and falling into the door. The alcoholic beverage was sizzling, some of it even spilling out onto the table. Loud cheers were heard in the kitchen, some were congratulating each other with kisses and hugs, some were crying from both joy and sadness, but they were celebrating. They were together, and they were doing something that all of them enjoyed, despite the bombs that would be getting ready to fall soon after the celebrations, despite the soldiers that would give their lives so that their country could keep going on, and most certainly despite the fact that many others listening to the broadcast would not live to see the new year, wouldn't be able to make good memories, accomplish their goals, spend time with their families.

Truthfully, this New Year's was the best holiday they had seen in a long while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is the anniversary of this book! It's amazing looking back on when I got this idea and simply began to write it down, like a one shot or something of the sort. But this book has helped me improve not my writing skills, but what I am like as a person. Seems silly for just a regular book? I don't thing it is. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope everybody enjoys this chapter than I went through hell to write (I don't know why, it was just difficult to write it) ad expect more on the way.


	10. Chapter 10

“Nice weather today, don't you think?” Natalia asked as she and Gilbert stood at the gates of the residence with Zvezda on a leash, happily wagging her tail. 

“It's mid-April, about time it stopped raining.” Gilbert glanced down at the ground, where large puddles were already drying up. The two were wearing large rubber boots, the group had found them in the Woodstock a while back. 

“Let's go back to the house, I think everyone else is awake by now.” The girl ignored whatever Gilbert had to say and charged towards the house with Zvezda on her leash, leading the way, leaving the albino to get to the house on his own. 

“Goddamn it, the dog is over ten years old and she runs twice as fast as I do.” The albino glared at the German Shepherd and strolled into the bathroom to wash his hands.

As soon as he appeared in the kitchen’s doorway, he found eight pairs of eyes on himself.

“Hey, you all know I'm slow, why are you looking at me like I just killed a man?” Gilbert raised his hands up in defeat. 

“It's not that. Sit down.” Ivan gestured to the albino’s usual seat. Now Gilbert was really worried. Had they decided to burn down the residence? Or maybe get out of here and join the armed forces in the Kremlin?

“The hell is going on?” He whispered to the Karelian next to him, but his question was ignored, due to their argument a few days back. 

“We’ve decided to drive to Petersburg.” Ivan stated. The rest turned to Gilbert, who heard the suggestion for the first time. He was actually a bit relieved, as driving to a nearby city wasn't as bad as burning the place down, but why would they do so when Petersburg was at high risk of attacks from Europe?

“Why Petersburg? Let's go to Petrozavodsk or something. It's closer and there's less of a chance that we’ll die.” The Prussian suggested, but the rest looked disapproving of his idea. 

“You know, St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire for over two centuries. You must remember, you were one of the greatest countries in Europe back then.” Any sign of a smile disappeared from Gilbert’s face. 

“I get it. You miss your pretty little capital, why am I involved, again?” The male narrowed his eyes at Ivan. 

“You're going with us.” The blond crossed his arms. 

“Us?” 

“Yes, I'm taking Yao and Lena with me.” 

Gilbert was confused, “Why take the Karelian?”

“The Karelian has a name.” Lena glared at the albino next to her, both of them still bitter. 

“She once held a high position in control of Petersburg. Not to mention that Karelia is rather close.” Ivan explained. 

“Doesn't matter. When are we going?” Gilbert asked, now completely at peace with the idea. 

“Probably around noon. I'll set up the car, the three of you should get ready.” The Russian turned to his companions, “I'm guessing the rest of you should be alright.”

“We’ll be fine, Vanya. You four should get to Petersburg soon. Talk to the officials if you can.” Katerina stated, and the group left the kitchen. 

***

“We’re leaving.” Ivan declared once he stepped in the house, back from fixing the car, which consisted of loading the car with the remainder of gasoline they had. Because the car was large, there were some doubts that they would run out of it. Although Ivan understood that perfectly, he decided that they would reload the car in Petersburg. 

“I'm ready.” Yao walked down the stairwell in the most decent clothes he had, in the ones he came here. 

The provinces came down in a few minutes, also looking more or less presentable. The four checked over their bags to make sure they had everything they needed and walked outside to the car. It was only noon, but the sky was grey and unmoving: there was a chance it would rain. The group got in the car, with Ivan in the driver’s seat, Yao in the passenger, and Gilbert and Lena in the back. 

“Good luck to all of us.” Ivan mumbled and started the car, and the Venza slowly moved forward along the rocky road. 

The gates were open, and Katerina promised to close them once they left. Ivan had an abstract idea of how the roads looked, not to mention that the personifications spent a day wandering the said road. 

“Yao, there's a map in the compartment. Please take it out and tell me how the roads go.” The Russian spoke as he tilted the steering wheel to the right, making a turn. Yao did what was asked and unfolded the map they found in the servants’ quarters: apparently it led to M18, which was the road from Murmansk to St. Petersburg. 

The elder tried his best to follow along the map, which only said to go straight forward. Soon, the car passed a small church, resembling those built during the time of Kievan Rus. It was made of pure wood, and the roof was painted a marshy green. The personifications looked over the space surrounding the church, only to find it to be completely abandoned. There was a small dog house in the front yard, a playground shaped like a vessel and a well. Not a single soul was on the residence, at least outside of it. This was expected, but still felt out of place. 

“What's next?” Ivan broke the intense silence. 

“Go straight forward. Forward until you reach an intersection. Then, you turn right and straight onto M18.” Yao explained and folded the map on his lap. 

“Petersburg is only two hundred kilometers from here, right?” Gilbert asked from the back seat. 

“Yes, the drive should take no more than two or three hours.” Ivan replied. He had drove down the M18 countless times to visit his sister in the past, all without knowing that he passed their apocalypse home every time. 

The car soon passed a small village. There wasn't much to look at, except for a water tower, a playground, and a large square with shops to the side. The doors and windows to the shops were barricaded, and the parking lot was empty, save for a purple Zhiguli that looked like it stood there since the beginning of the Third World War. The atmosphere this village gave off was eerie, so the Toyota drove past as fast as possible. Thankfully, the intersection Yao talked about was right next to the village, so Ivan made the turn to M18 without a problem. 

The roads were deserted. Maybe it was because they were far away from the city, or maybe because all transportation had stopped, which seemed unlikely, because even during the times of the Second World War, food and refugees were being transported to and from the Ladoga Lake. 

"Turn on the radio or something, I feel like I'm walking through a cemetery." Gilbert shuddered and pointed at the stereo system of the car.

"If there's no one on the roads, I doubt there's anyone in radio stations." Yao replied, not looking over his shoulder at the glaring German.

"Just do it."

With a sigh, Yao pressed the 'on' and 'radio' buttons of the stereo. The first station they encountered worked, surprisingly, but it was just news.

"Our ground forces have defeated the Americans in the North and Central Ural. While the North and Central European side of the country should only worry about attacks from Middle and West Europe, the South remains in a situation of Emergency. Some key points are Samara, Orenburg, and Ufa. Meanwhile, China has defended the port of Daljan, but the rest of Northeastern China remains under Japanese and American control. We will follow up on the attack and defense processes of our allies in a minute"

"Oh god, anything but this shit! I don't want to know how close I am to my death." Gilbert groaned from the backseat.

"Be quiet." Ivan stated and turned the new up louder when a new topic arose.

"In other news, we still cannot locate the personifications of nine countries. It has been half a year since any witnesses saw them. I remind you that the personifications of Russia, China, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Karelia, and Kaliningrad disappeared half a year ago, and have not been heard from since the beginning of the war. If any of you have seen them, please inform the local authorities."

Ivan immediately pulled the car over with a screech. If he continued to drive, there was a chance that this would be their last trip. 

A shocking silence arose in the car, and the four tried to process what they just heard.

"The bastards have kept us in secret since this whole bloody thing started! That's why they sent us consumables through a taxi driver, and that's why we never heard from them. I wouldn't even be surprised if they nuked us in that damned residence!" Ivan raged and stepped out of the car, shaking his head and cursing in his native language.

Yao was the next one to step out of the car, "Maybe it's not a good idea to keep driving. Let's turn around in case anything happens at the residence." He offered, but was met with a terrifying glare from the violet-eyed male.

"No. I want to get to the bottom of this. If they decide to kill us off, so be it. I just want to know the exact plans of the government." Ivan looked up at the gloomy sky with a look of hatred.

"Bloody idiot." Gilbert brought his hands up to his face upon hearing the other's decision. 

"What else did you expect? My brother is the type of person who would go to his death to find out the truth. He's an honest person, and he believes everyone who interacts with him is too." Lena rested her arm on the window, not facing her conversation partner.

The others sat back down into the car after calming themselves down. Ivan started the car with trembling hands and continued their trip.

Soon, they entered a town. It wasn't a place they've heard of, but most towns like this are unmarked on the maps. What stood out about this one, however, is that there was life. Although no one was out on the streets, some shops were working and cars crossed M18 to get to the other part of town. 

"Have any of you eaten today?" Ivan asked the group, who were completely unexpected this question.

"No, why?" Just as his younger sister's response came, the Russian turned the car into a parking lot of a grocery store.

"What are you doing? We can't be seen." Gilbert protested.

"No one is going to recognize us, and even if they do, do you really think they'll turn to the authorities? You can get away with anything with the right amount of money in this country." Ivan stopped the car in a parking lot, which was surprisingly not empty. 

"If anyone wants food, come with me." Almost sounding like a threat, the male quickly got out of the Venza and slammed the door shut. As much as the other personifications didn't want to be seen, they hadn't eaten a full meal in hell knows how long, so they too exited the car.

If anyone entered the shop without knowing that the apocalypse is happening, they would've never guessed that it was. The shop was alive: workers were slowly restocking the aisles, customers were meandering around said aisles, trying to find the highest quality for the cheapest price. And, of course, what's a day at a Russian grocery store without some sort of bickering between the workers and the customers? Even if there was a war, the citizens of this country were always eager to keep up their traditions.

Ivan took a basket from near the entrance and ushered the rest of the group to follow him. 

"Get what you need not only for the rest of the ride, but also for tomorrow. We might stay the night in Petersburg." Ivan warned and the group proceeded to walk into the first isle of the shop. 

***

After stocking up on milk, kielbasa, pierogi, sparkling water, rye bread, chips, suhari, and beer, the four placed their groceries in the car and continued their journey. The car was around thirty kilometers from the town they shopped in when droplets of rain began to hit the front glass.

"I always hated Petersburg's weather." Ivan sighed and turned on the wipers. The heavy rain cloud hoarded the entire sky, with no chance of stopping soon. Suddenly, a thought crossed Yao's mind when he watched the дворники clear the windshield.

_ "You should see what happens in Petersburg during autumn and spring. They call it Northern Venice for a reason!"  _

The words of the cheery taxi driver were echoing in the mind of the Chinese man, ultimately giving him a headache.

"Someone pass me the alcohol." He reached out a hand to the provinces in the back seat, who were finishing their fourth bag of suhari. 

"Excuse me?" Lena looked over to the male to see if he was alright, and not experiencing a stroke of some sort, as the phrase seemed out of place for him to say.

"You bought beer, right? I highly dislike it, but can I have some?" Yao pointed at the grocery bags while clutching his head.

"I think what you need is sparkling water if you have a headache. I don't know what you do when you're drunk, nor do I want to know right now." The Karelian pulled out a liter bottle of water and handed it to the male, who sighed, but accepted anyway.

"She's right, none of us can drink before meeting officials." Ivan commented, перегоняя a car in front of them.

"Even if we really want to." Gilbert mumbled, receiving glares from everyone in the car.

***

The rest of the ride went by smoothly, as the personifications found a decent radio station that broadcasted Soviet and Russian music instead of news, and were crossing the Neva river. Only at this point the personifications became concerned with what they would do once they reached Petersburg.

"We can't just barge into the Duma and say 'Hey, it's the people you were searching for over the course of half a year. We're here to check in, but we gotta go in a few hours.' They simply won't believe us or won't let us leave." Ivan explained.

"Do you actually think they were looking for us? Just as you said, with the right amount of money we can get away with anything, including this." Gilbert protested from the backseat, almost spilling a bag of chips.

"Maybe, but just as my brother said, they might not let us leave after we come. Not to mention that we have little to no communication with the residence, meaning we can't let them know if anything happens." Lena added, "But it's worth a shot, if you ask me."

"I'm sure everything will be fine. I think that the government has bigger problems than this." Yao assured the group, and they entered city limits via M18.

When they entered Petersburg, they instantly felt the mental pressure that towered over it. There were very few people out on the streets, and even if they were, they hatefully glared at everything surrounding them. The parks and stadiums that were usually filled with energetic kids or reckless youth were empty, and collecting dust. Even the city cleaners, whose number was reduced, were most likely ready to get as far as possible from their job. 

There hadn't been any mass attacks in the city, save for a few groups of people who believed that this country was doing everything wrong that started fights that ended with large amounts of casualties. Those people were from the West, allies of the Americans. 

As they got further into the center of the city, more life began to show. People were casually taking walks, buying whatever food was left in stock, and living life like they did before the war. But everyone knew that as soon as the sirens begins to blare, these people will grab their guns and defend their city, just like they always did.

The car soon pulled onto the Nevsky Avenue, where shops continued working, but mainly those were food and first aid shops. The churches worked as well, which wasn't surprising. The Toyota reached the State Duma and pulled up to the gates, where they had to present a pass, which they, of course, did not have. That meant that they would have to face the officials earlier than preferred.

"The State Duma is closed, have a nice day." An annoyed voice erupted from the panel near the gates, which immediately sent Ivan into a state of shock. He's lived in Petersburg half his life, and the Duma was never closed, even in times of war, officials discussed their strategies and plans.

"Open up, it's Ivan Braginsky." He sighed, and now it was time for the other end to be shocked.

"I don't believe you. Present your ID." The man at the other end gathered his thoughts, much to the personifications' dismay.

"Hell knows that we never had IDs! If you don't believe him, come out and face us! Did we drag our asses here just for you to think it's some scam?!" Gilbert jumped up from the back seat once again, and yelled into the panel, surprising just about everyone possible.

"Sit down, Beilschmidt, and don't talk to officials in that tone of voice!" Lena grabbed him by the arm and shoved him back to his seat.

"I'll outlive all these officials, and I've been here hundreds of years before them. Who are they to tell me what to do?" Gilbert's protest was interrupted by a sigh coming from the other end, and the gates opening.

"The officials of the Duma will see you as soon as possible. It's nice to see that you came back." That was the last phrase coming from the panel before Ivan rolled the window back up and drove into the parking lot of the Duma, where they were met by guards dressed in black. Ivan thought back to the time where he was being driven to the meeting with Yao in Istra, where it all happened. He thought those were the same men, a first glance. They directed the car to a parking space, and ushered the personifications to exit the car. They did so, after exchanging an assuring glance with each other.

"Please follow us into the meeting room. The mayor of St. Petersburg is waiting." One of the men said, and started towards the entrance.

"Good God, they're making it sound like we're going to be executed." Gilbert whispered to Yao and Lena, who stood to the sides of him. 

"I see you clearly haven't been to government meetings in a while." Yao replied, shushing the albino's next response, as the group had entered the Duma, and most eyes were on them. They were led to a tall wooden door, which was the meeting room. Both Ivan and Lena have visited this meeting room plenty of times, and knew the mayor to some extent, making the situation just a bit easier.

"I was just informed that the personifications of Russia, China, Karelia, and Kaliningrad showed up at the gates. Is that so?" The mayor asked, staring out the window.

"As you see, yes." Ivan was already beginning to get irritated with the man.

"I'm glad the four of you made it. What happened to the rest of the group? I believe the search was for nine personifications." He turned to the four and took a seat, "Please, sit down, make yourselves comfortable."

"They stayed behind, we didn't want to risk losing people if we did." Ivan responded as the group sat down themselves.

"Oh my, and where are they staying? That's the question that everyone has been wanting to know for a long while." The mayor smiled and leaned back in his seat.

"Before I tell you, I want to make sure that this information doesn't get out to the public, and will stay as confidential as possible. There is no need to contact the Kremlin about it, because they were the ones that arranged this." Ivan warned, getting a surprised look from the other man.

"Of course, of course."

"Now, I believe you've heard about the Braginsky Apocalypse Home." Ivan began with a sigh.

"I've heard of it, but I never actually believed it. I thought it was just a tale that goes around the dinner table with guests." The man scoffed in disbelief.

"Well, it isn't, because all nine of us have been living there since the war began. It's near the cost of the Ladoga Lake, in the Leningrad Oblast." The champagne haired male explained, while the mayor just stared in shock. It wasn't a surprising reaction to the situation, in all honesty.

"Why didn't any of us know where you were if the Kremlin put you there?" He asked with distrust. It was possible that he didn't believe the personifications, thinking they were told to lie by the Kremlin, or just made the whole story up.

"That information was, and still is, very secret. Telling mayors meant telling the public, and that possibly meant that the Americans find the location, and dispose of us in the beginning of the war. They aren't the ones to be ceremonial with personifications." The mayor must have been impressed with the explanation Ivan provided, because he nodded understandingly. 

"I see, have you been informed about progress in the war?" He asked, standing up.

"I'm afraid not."

"Come with me, then." The mayor walked out of the room, the other four following, and exchanging confused looks.

They reached a room at the end of the hall, and the mayor took out a key. He looked around to make sure no one saw him, even though the only people in the hall were guards, the mayor, and the personifications, before opening the door. The five stepped in, to find it extremely cold. The mayor turned on the lights, and a huge map, size of the whole wall, was revealed. There were marks on the map, in red and green, as well as black.

"My apologies for the temperture, no one besides me knows about this room, so it doesn't have heating." The man walked closer to the map, and waved the personifications over.

"Well, I think you know about the general position in the war. We're in the North and West, while the Americans are in the South and East. I won't begin with that, I will begin with what will affect us in the near future," he pointed to the North European territory, "There was a paper that was signed about a week ago, and it was about Europe's position in the war. Most countries, except those who remain neutral, have sided with the Americans. It's clear what their plan is, to push us from the sides into the center, then defeat us there. I'm sure that we made that easier be sending most guards along the European border to fight in the South. I sent a letter to the Kremlin regarding that a few days ago, and still haven't received a reply. The most dangerous places are along the Baltic borders, where American bases are stationed. They want to send rockets here, because they believe that we kidnapped their personifications. That's how the whole issue regarding you started."

"I won't allow the Baltic personifications to be caught up in a potential war zone. Tell them that everything is fine with them, and to not push the issue any longer." Ivan interrupted, irritated.

"Ah, but there is a low chance that they will believe us. They think all personifications that were in Moscow at the beginning of the war are being held hostage. We can't convince them otherwise." The mayor shook his head.

"Wait, if all of Europe united against us, what about my land? I'm allied with you, and it's in the middle of Europe, have they not taken over?" Gilbert asked anxiously.

"Your oblast built a wall around itself, in both meanings of the word. We can't even contact your authorities." The man sighed.

"Neither can I, just so you know." The albino muttered under his breath.

"I think you should know the cities we're currently defending. We've been successful in defending the North and Middle Ural, and the Kremlin troops are fighting in Ufa, Orienburg, and Chelyabinsk. The Kazakhs are defending Omsk."

_ "You nine get more supplies than most of Omsk. Sheesh." _

_ "Are you from there or something?"  _

_ "Yes, actually. I don't come from a very rich family, so I went to work as a taxi driver in Moscow. I usually go there once every month or two." _

The words of the same person as of some hours ago echoed in Yao's head again, not enough to give him a headache this time, thankfully, but more than enough to be noticed.

"This is going to be a such out of place question, but did you get informed about anyone getting us consumables? It was in November, I think." The male spoke up, getting looks of confusion from the others.

The mayor tried to remember what happened in November, before responding, "Yes, actually. The guards told me they stopped a dark green Lada, the driver of which claimed to be sent to the personifications. They ruled him off as having some sort of mental disturbance, considering that his license plate was of Omsk and the Americans just dropped a gas bomb on the city then."

"He told us that, didn't he?" Lena quietly asked the other three, to which they nodded.

"And do you know where the driver is now?" Yao asked, to which the mayor's face darkened, and gained a solemn look.

"You were acquainted with him, is that right?" 

"Yes, he reached us with the consumables. We've been rationing them ever since." Ivan confirmed.

The mayor sighed, and looked at his desk, "On the route from Moscow to Omsk, there was an accident. It was one of the attacks from the West. A gas bomb was dropped from a low distance, setting everything around it fire, including the forest below. The same dark green Lada was found some days later, completely burned out." The man paused, glanced at the personifications in unease, unsure if he should continue. After seeing their faces, he proceeded, "Not even half a kilometer away from the Lada, they found the body of the driver, who was identified as 24-year old Alexei Mamaev, a taxi driver from Omsk. He was driving back to his house with a large amount of money. After contacting his girlfriend, it was found out that he came to Omsk every two months to give her and their two year old son money to live. His services became unneeded when the war started, so he joined Kremlin's forces, and ran errands for them. He was on his way to give his family the money when he made his fatal trip."

A silence of tension and disbelief arose in the room. Alexei never had a strong connection to them, but he was a lively and energetic person, especially after joining the forces. Even after losing his mother and getting badly injured, he was able to live happily. In a way, he was even stronger than the personifications, mental-heath wise. Maybe because he was the last person they became acquainted with before the apocalypse, or maybe because he was killed by the thing he wanted to destroy, the sadness, sorrow, and even irony of the tragic event, but whatever it was, it made Ivan take twenty five thousand rubles and slam them on the desk.

"Give this to the family. It's wartime, and they need to eat." The mayor was shocked by the amount of money the male had on him, "Also, give the man a post-death medal for helping his country." 

"I will, I'll have the guards deliver everything tomorrow." The man nodded, and placed the money in a drawer in his table.

"Remember, if the money doesn't get delivered to them, I will take the same amount of money from your salary and drive there myself." Ivan threatened.

"I'm an honest man, even if my reputation in the city says otherwise." The mayor grabbed the keys from his desk, "I think it will be best if you rest here, and not drive back right now. We have some other topics to discuss. We can reload your car in the morning."

"That won't be a problem." 

The group stood up from their seats and exited the room, the man locking the door behind them.

"What hotel should we stay at? We can arrange the prices later." Ivan asked as they returned to the meeting room.

"I wasn't talking about a hotel. I was talking about this very building" The personifications stopped to look at the man in confusion.

"What? I live here myself." The mayor shrugged, before the solemn expression from earlier crossed his face again, "My own family was evacuated to Murmansk, I know that the Americans will get to this city soon. I know that I won't survive this war. I have nothing left to lose."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote this and the next chapter before chapter nine... Writing is a difficult process. Also, it only gets more angsty from here.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 "You four can head back to the residence, if that's what you'd like, at half past two. Until then, we have business to discuss." The mayor proclaimed as he and the personifications ate breakfast in the meeting room. It was full and a rarity as opposed to what they ate back at the residence, and consisted of fried eggs with bacon, Earl Grey tea, and ginger cookies.

  
"Suits us. As discussed before, there is no need to inform this to the public. If you must, share it only with trustworthy members of the Duma." Ivan moved his empty plate away from himself.

"That means lunch is included, right?" Lena whispered to her brother, who only sighed.

The mayor chimed in before the blond could respond, however: "Yes, lunch is included. I can send consumables to the residence with you. They're long overdue, anyway."

"We would greatly appreciate that." Yao stated calmly, right before Ivan had a chance to decline. Irritated that he got cut off twice, he stood up.

"Let's get to business, shall we?"

***

Much to the personifications' surprise, the mayor suggested that they talk over things outside, while taking a walk. "A benefit for health" is how the man described it. So, with that, the five were being escorted by two guards around the city.

"The Duma will send a report to the Kremlin in a week, and we need to discuss what to fill it with. I've been doing this every month since the war began. I think that you would be a valuable source for information for this report." The mayor explained, as they walked along the Nevsky avenue.

"As I stated before, we were kept in the residence with no communication with the outside world, save for- you know." Ivan's irritated outburst died down at the memory of the young taxi driver.

"I understand, but maybe you encountered something that would be helpful to the report within the residence?" The personifications stopped in their tracks at the question. Was this man hiding something? He gave off a vibe of a shady person, not to mention how he acted around the four. They immediately ruled out the possibility of him visiting the residence, as the only people who have set foot there before the war were the Braginsky siblings and the restoration workers. Could he have been one of them? No, this man wasn't even born when the construction began. He was simply someone who was spooked by the place and the events surrounding it.

"No, we haven't." Ivan calmly stated. Was this the "business" the mayor wanted to discuss?

"That's alright. You four can help me sort out the facts that I have currently. You know a lot more about this city than I do." The mayor smiled, unfazed by the decline he received.

"Sure, we will try our best to be helpful."

And with that, the five walked around the Nevsky avenue, and then the Neva river, talking about attack plans to secure St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast from American and European attacks. And although the personifications were skeptical about this man, they shared their thoughts and memories. This went on for a while, and conversation was interrupted by a loud thud, like that of a canon.

"Did you hear that? Are we under attack?" Yao asked, starting to panic, but the mayor just laughed.

"No, it's a tradition in St. Petersburg to fire the canon from the Peter and Paul fortress at exactly noon. It used to signal floods, which happen a lot here, but nowadays it's just a creative clock." The man smiled, and the onyx-haired male sighed in relief.

"We've taken quite a route, don't you think?" Ivan asked, himself surprised at how far the group has gotten.

"Indeed. I'll call a car and have them drop us off at the Duma for lunch." The mayor took out an Apple phone and dialed a number. In just under a minute, a glossy black BMW pulled up to the embankment.

"I wonder where they get the fuel for lavish cars like this." Gilbert whispered to Yao and Lena, between whom he was sitting in the back seat.

"Stealing from the people. Our government learned that in the 90's, and they've been using that method since." Lena explained monotonously.

"I'm sure this country has enough fuel, with all the oil in your storage, you should be fine for at least ten more years." Yao was secretly a bit envious of all the oil in their country. But then again, oil was their main export, and it anything happened to it, there would be a major downfall in the economy.

"As if that stops prices from going up. Our delegates would make the citizens pay for air if they had the chance." The ashenette scoffed, and the car came to a stop in the parking lot of the Duma.

"If you three want to bicker about the unfairness of the government, at least don't do it in the presence of officials. They're doing their best, you know." Ivan quietly stated to the others as they were being escorted to the dining room.

"I know, the best for their pockets." It was no secret that the Republic of Karelia didn't get as much funding from the government as the other regions, evidence of that being awful roads, high food prices, and lack of supervision in dangerous places.

The lunch was a three course meal, consisting of mushroom soup, pasta and salad, and biscuits with tea. Again, something the personifications haven't had since the beginning of the war. They ate in silence, although the mayor occasional tried to make small talk with the personifications.

"We must be going soon. It's already two o'clock, and we need to refuel the car." Ivan stated as the four finished up their meal, "Speaking of which, do you know any gas stations on the way to the Murmansk highway?"

"Why pay double the price at gas stations? The Duma has its own reserves, I can have someone refuel the car while consumables are being loaded." The mayor suggested.

"That would be great, thank you." Ivan agreed, knowing that it was idiotic to decline consumables and free gas. The mayor nodded and called a guard over. After giving orders to the man, he turned back to the personifications.

"Alright, your car is going to be ready soon. You can look around the Duma if you want in the meantime." The group stood up from the table, and the mayor departed in a direction opposite of where the personifications were.

"Нашел перед кем красоваться. I know the Duma like the back of my own hand." Lena scoffed as she looked in the direction of the mayor.

"There's no need to be cocky. He can't say much else." Ivan led the group in the direction of the main hall, "We have nothing to do for another half an hour, anyway. Let's see how much it changed."

The four walked around the gold-decked entrance hall and the first floor. Guards were at most doors, so they didn't bother entering.

"What kind of consumables do you think they're loading?" Yao asked, for the atmosphere around the group was gloomy and tense, and the Chinese personification felt the urge to lighten the mood.

"Non-perishables as usual, what else can they give? Also, we need to inspect the car for bombs after they're done. I don't trust this man, I don't know why." Gilbert stated with a sigh.

"Don't be ridiculous. He's acting like this because he wants to show off. There's nothing else to it." Lena replied.  
"Why would he need to do that? I'm sure the Duma needs both fuel and consumables." Yao argued. Despite not wanting to pick sides, he, too, wasn't sure he trusted the mayor of St. Petersburg.

"That reminds me of the time an owner of a factory in Chelyabinsk forgave the debt of a man who ran into his Lamborghini on TV. The debt was to repair the car, and was around two million rubles. Basically, after a few years, he sent a letter to the man asking him to pay the debt. People will go a long way to seem charitable." Ivan commented with a laugh. He remembered getting the news from the mayor of Chelyabinsk, and laughing about it over tea. Now hell knows where the man was, if he was even still alive.

A stoic voice broke his train of thought before it could get too melancholic. The voice belonged to one of the guards, who was quickly pacing toward them, "We've loaded the car, it's ready to go. Please follow me out to the parking lot."

Ivan gave a nod and the personifications began walking after the guard. They soon exited the building to the back parking lot, where the mayor was standing next to their Venza.

"It was good to see you. Visit again, if you have the chance. The Duma will always welcome you." The mayor shook each of the personifications' hands, and they sat down in the Toyota. The guards opened the Duma gate for them, and with one last glance, the car sped out, and down the Nevsky avenue.

"Hey, do you remember the schwarma trend?" Lena asked quietly with a small smile as they passed the Sennaya square.

"Yeah, why?" Came her brother's reply.

"I just happened to see the best schwarma place in all of Petersburg. And it's not closed."

"Oh god, I thought that would die out at least during the apocalypse." Gilbert groaned, remembering how the Karelian would always spend her money on the snack.

"We still have some money, right?" Lena continued, urging her brother to stop the car.

"We are not blowing our money on schwarma." Ivan stopped at a red light.

 

"Fine. Then I'm blowing my own money." The brunette opened the car door and began walking towards the place, while the rest watched her in confusion and shock.

"We don't exactly have a choice now, do we?" Yao turned to the irritated Russian in the driver's seat.

"Actually, we can leave her here with her stupid schwarma." Gilbert crossed his arms, but Ivan was already parking the Toyota.

"It won't take long, and I'm paying for all of you." The car doors opened and the three got out and caught up with the Karelian, and together began walking towards the cafe.

As soon as they entered, a bell rang over their heads, something a lot of stores had. Sitting alone in the entire cafe was a tall Asian man, no older than twenty, reading a book. When the personifications entered, the man almost dropped the book out of surprise and turned to the four in a flash. The look of surprise on his face was replaced by fear, and later, determined anger. He immediately took out a gun and pointed it at the group.

"I am not surrendering the shop, and if you try to take any food, I will shoot." He firmly stated, while the four stood near the entrance in shock.

"Put the gun down, we're here to buy schwarma. Do you not recognize us?" Lena spoke slowly, not making any sudden movements. This made the man lower the gun, but he didn't release it from his grip.

"I've seen a lot of faces in the past half a year, how would I recognize you?" He replied, standing up. The gun was still in his right hand, "I can't give you any schwarma, for there isn't any."

"No need to bullshit! I saw that you had more than enough schwarma ingredients in the kitchen." Gilbert hissed at the man, who raised a brow.

"We have money, we'll pay you." Ivan stepped in front of the albino, knowing that if given the chance, Gilbert will fight anyone, even someone who has a loaded gun.

"To hell with your money. When the ingredients finish, what am I supposed to do? Chew a hundred ruble bill? I don't think so." The man set the pistol down on the counter, and leaned on it, supporting himself with the free right hand, "I didn't run from Sakhalin for this shit."

"Wait, what did you say?" Ivan's interest in this man skyrocketed and the schwarma need was suddenly gone.

"Exactly what you heard." The black haired male narrowed his eyes.

"Listen, if you're from Sakhalin, you'll be very useful to us." Ivan commented.

"What are you? Government delegates or something like that?" The man's tone became more frightened once again.

"Even better: we're personifications." Yao let a small smile creep on his face.

 

"Ah, so you're the ones that got us into this shit. Fancy meeting you here, what gives?" The brunet eased himself and crossed his arms.

"We were meeting the mayor for the first time since the beginning of the war." Ivan stated calmly.

"And where were all of you when the Baltic states declared war on us and fired tear gas over here? Thankfully it didn't get too far, but a lot of people fell sick, and there's no medicine here, you know? Or when the Americans told us over radio that our entire country is going to pay for the so-called "kidnapped" personifications? When they filed such a bad embargo that prices became so high only your snobby mayor and his little robber gang could afford to eat? You could've solved all of this, yet you were with your small circle of elite. Do you even care about your own people?" The man ranted, his voice becoming louder with every word. The personifications were stunned. Was it really that awful? The mayor hadn't told them any of this, that forming their opinion of him as a liar and a traitor of the people.

"We do care." Ivan replied, his voice shaking from shock.

"It sure doesn't look like it." The brown eyed male glared at the four. The cafe was so silent that you were able to hear two people arguing outside. With a sigh, the man shook his head and looked at the tiled floor: "Never mind. I'm sorry, I got carried away." He turned back the personifications: "I guess giving you a bit of schwarma wouldn't be too destructive to the rations. But you're still going to pay me for it."

***

"So, back to where we began, you say you're from Sakhalin? Tell us more." The five sat around a table in the cafe, each having a plate with schwarma rolled into pita bread in front of them. Cups stood in front of each one, but they weren't at all like the ones in the Duma. They were cheap, styrofoam cups, with homemade herbal tea poured to the top.

"I was born and raised there, yes. I only graduated high school when the war began. It was October, and I was taking a year off, trying to find the best university for me. When I first heard that the Americans are sending their jets over here, I immediately booked a flight to St. Petersburg. Out of paranoia, I guess, but I've never been more thankful that I left. I came here, rented a room, and began working here, when people still could afford food and schwarma selled well. The owner decided that it was best for him to leave to where he was from, I don't remember where, and gave the cafe to me. Around this time, the people who were leasing the room told me they couldn't afford to have me live in their apartment anymore, so I moved to the cafe." The man pointed to a white door in the back of the shop, "I live and sleep there, in that room. After we got the last shipment, I began saving up food, so I would have something to eat. I don't even have a job, since no one needs schwarma anymore, only one person comes in per, say, a week, meaning I don't have money to buy food. I guess I'll just keep on living like this until rations end."

"What are you going to do when your rations do end?" Lena asked and took a small bite of her schwarma.

"If you're going to ask questions, at least ask questions you don't know the answer to." The man scoffed, "I'll do what your delegates always did, I'll steal."

The four were more unfazed than the brunet expected them to be, "What's your name? That's a question we don't know the answer to."

"Uljan." The man spoke his name as if it was unfamiliar to him.

"Nice to meet you, I'm-"

"Yeah, I know who you are. Anything else you want to question me of?"

The group, although they appeared calm, were actually stunned at how defensive this man got every time they stepped over certain boundaries. But they had seen the true nature of this young male - he was simply scared and would go to any limits to let them know that he was not to be messed with.

“Yes. I know this one is different from our previous questions.” Ivan began, “But if you didn't know, we own an apartment not too far from here. It's empty, and it was reconstructed last year.”

The defensive look on Uljan’s face was replaced by a confused one. Realizing that he didn't get the hint, Ivan continued, “We brought the apartment keys with us, simply in case we would need to stay there. It's fully furnished and has running water and gas”

“What I'm understanding is you want me to live there?” Uljan looked distrustingly at Ivan.

“Yes, if you would like to.”

Something of a smile appeared on the dark haired man’s features as soon as he heard the answer, “In any other circumstances, I would've said yes in a heartbeat, but not this time. The fact that I left my friends and family and fled like a coward has haunted me for nearly half a year now. If I were to leave this shop, something given to me by the last person I met and considered a friend, I simply wouldn't be able to forgive myself.”

“The apartment is only ten minutes away from the shop. Wouldn't you rather live there than the same place you work at?” Lena asked, unable to comprehend how he could turn down this good of an opportunity.

“If I left this shop even to get groceries, it would get broken into and not only would I have no place to live, but I would have nothing to eat. That's more important to me than mere prestige.” Uljan explained, taking a bite of his own shwarma for once.

“We can send guards.” Yao suggested.

“Look, I don't know why you're being so charitable, but I'm sure I don't need any of it. This is where I began the apocalypse, and that's where I'll finish it. Since your delegates aren't planning on doing anything to protect this city, that is.” Uljan was once again in his defensive stance. At this time, it became clear that he would not be taking the keys, no matter what they said or did. The man was very stubborn in this nature, but so were the personifications. 

“I see.” Ivan took out a set of three keys and a label with the words “St. Petersburg” imprinted on it. He placed the set on the table, “This is just in case you change your mind.”

The dark haired male wanted to protest, the words were already building on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't. As much as he wanted to resist this so-called gift, something inside him didn't think he should.

“Alright, I'll take your goddamn keys. Just promise that you'll never show up at my door and ask me for shwarma again.” Uljan placed the set in his pocket and stood up, seeing that the personifications had already finished their food.

“We promise.” Yao have a small laugh and turned to the others. In his peripheral vision, he caught Ivan writing something down on a piece of paper.

“If you ever have information that could be useful to us, or if you have any sort of issue, just call this number. There's a low chance we’ll visit Petersburg again, but if there's something very serious, we’ll be here.” Ivan gave the dumbfounded young male the paper, and walked to the exit with the others.

“You know, it would've been best if you didn't come at all. I just got used to your four being here, but that's life, is it not?” Uljan looked at the personifications with a smile, “Thanks. For all of this.”

“It was no problem. Take care.” With that, the four exited the shop.

***

Natalia was sitting on the porch of the house with Zvezda when the jet black Venza pulled in front of the main house. The German Shepherd lay on the blonde’s lap, happily wagging her tail. Natalia watched with gleaming eyes as the four got out of the car. They were not as she expected them to be, the group was worn out, and looked more tired and distressed than they did before they left. Natalia chose to ignore that and stood up, greeting them.

“Good afternoon. I'm glad you're back, it's been a while.” The blonde beamed at them, her older brother in particular, who have her a weary half-smile back. He had no intention of snapping at his sister, even though he was more tired than ever.

“It's good to be back. We missed you.” Lena responded, opening the trunk of the car, “Call everyone else, please. We have a lot of things to unpack.”

Natalia nodded and opened the door to the house, briefly walked in, and called out to the rest, who showed up within a minute.

“What happened? Are they back?” Toris inquired, looking intently at the Belarusian.

“Yes, and they've brought something with them. If I had to guess, it's probably food.” She nodded, “They need us to get it inside.”

They walked outside, and the others were already waiting for them on the porch.

“Here's the car keys. We're going to rest for a while.” Ivan gave Katerina the set of keys and headed towards the door.

“You need it. It’s good to have you back.” She approvingly nodded, and allowed them to pass into the house.

“Let's get to unloading the car. If there's food in there, it's best to get it out.” Eduard gestured in the direction of the Venza.

“You're right. We don't want our food to spoil.” Katerina remarked and unlocked the car as they began to descend down the steps.

In silence they got out the consumables. There were more than they expected, but that was fine with them, as the more food, the better.

“What did you think got them worn out like that? Even in this war they've been through worse.” Raivis quietly asked his elder brothers.

“We don't know for sure what happened to them in Petersburg. There's no need to jump to conclusions. We can ask them about it later.” Toris dropped the question. He didn't even want to think about what could've caused the four to act that way. He knew them- he knew Ivan the best, and he knew that it takes a lot to get him in this state.

It took nearly half an hour for them to get everything out of the car and organize it in the kitchen. After that, although it was a bastardous move, the group decided that they would have lunch on their own with the food the others brought. “They have probably already eaten in Petersburg” is what they came up with in attempts to not feel guilty about their decision.

Toris had made black Ceylon tea for them, and poured it evenly in five cups. They had biscuits to go with the tea, as well as some dark chocolate. It was very much a luxury compared to their everyday food.

“I hope that what they were worried about wasn't too bad. This conflict is bad as it is.” Eduard sighed, taking a sip of his tea.

“I don't know if that's the case. When they first came, they had a heavy atmosphere around them. They couldn't have had that feeling simply because they were tired. There's much more to it.” Natalia responded in a disappointing tone.

"As I said before, we can ask questions later, after they rest. The only thing we can do right now is wait." Toris stared into the depths of his tea cup and furrowed his brows. If his senses weren't failing him, he was sure that something terrible would happen very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I'm back and not dead
> 
> Also I had some fun with that cliffhanger there ;^)
> 
> R&R please !


	12. Chapter 12

It stopped raining long ago in this region, and instead, the rain was replaced by a monstrous heat wave, which was much worse than the other years, for the numerous bombs dropped the previous year. The fact that the Kremlin ordered a nuclear bomb to be dropped in Central Ural didn't help. Miraculously, after this happened, both sides agreed to a ceasefire so that the casualties didn't increase. Although it was good that the fighting had stopped, the Kremlin had a lot of pressure on them. They had to plan the evacuation of citizens, as well as their total demonization from both the enemy and their own people. Even though it was a war, it felt far too early to use nuclear weapons. In secrecy, Ivan had a conversation with the Kremlin prior to the event. He was against ending his own people's lives, but the Americans were far too close to the European side of the country. Had the bomb not been dropped, they would've lost South and Central Ural. As a personification, this deeply affected him, so here the Russian was: terribly sick in the middle of June.

*** 

"Natasha, you've spent enough time with Vanya for today. He needs to rest." Katerina whispered to her sister, who was intently staring at her brother's miserable form, concerned, almost helpless.

"No. I can't leave him alone in such a crisis." She replied, not turning to the blonde.

"It's best to leave for now. As much as we want to, there's nothing we can do. " The Ukrainian placed her hand on Natalia's shoulder. This angered her, and with an exasperated grunt, she pushed her hand off.

"Let me ask you a question, Katya. Do you remember Chernobyl? How awful you felt? How you woke and went to sleep coughing up blood? And how I was there for you through it all?" Natalia stood up in full height, an infuriated look crossing her features, "Well, this is ten times worse. I can't believe how selfish you are, sestra."

At the very mention of the city, Katerina's blood boiled. How dare her sister bring up one of, if not the worst event in her country's modern history so shamelessly? Using her stance, the Ukrainian grabbed her sister by the arm and shoved her out of the room. 

"Get out. And next time you choose to guilt trip me like that, you're going to regret it, Natalia." She hissed before slamming the door shut in her face.

"I thought you were over that, Katya." A weak voice spoke up from the other end of the room. Katerina was lost in thought before realizing that through her anger, she completely forgot about her brother's state. The woman sighed and sat down on the chair and ran a hand through her hair.

"I am, I just got carried away. It was a mistake, I shouldn't have treated Natasha like that. She only wanted the best for you." Although at heart she truly was a kind woman, ever since the dissolution of Kievan Rus, Katerina has sometimes had episodes of pure anger directed towards anyone who irritated her even the slightest. This usually happened when she was under a huge amount of stress or when she was horribly tired. This occasion was both.

"I think you two should make up before the situation gets worse than it already is. After that, get some rest. Your eyes are literally bloodshot." Ivan suggested, turning to the other side of the bed to face his sister.

"I will, but don't think I'm just going to beg for her forgiveness. I still have some pride in me, you know?" Katerina stood up and opened the door, "You get some rest as well. We don't know how long these effects will last." 

When she was gone, Ivan let out a sigh. He truly overrated himself when he thought he could handle the aftermath of a nuclear bomb. It affected everyone in the household, as the ashes spread throughout the world, but he had it the worst. Truthfully, he couldn't do anything about it now, except to ignore the problem through sleep.

***

Ivan woke up to a strong scent filling the room. It smelled of unfamiliar herbs, but also of smoke. Was the residence burning? Was there another bomb? These thoughts caused him to nearly jump out of bed as his mind raced. What he was faced with was completely unexpected. His room was completely dark, except for a gas lamp right near the bed, only illuminating its surroundings. Those surroundings consisted of Yao burning something that looked like a very large cigar, and it was the thing that gave that smell. He was collected and his face was completely neutral. Until Ivan's outburst, that is.

"What the hell are you doing in here with a joint?! Yao, are you smoking? Where in the world did you get drugs like that?" Ivan exclaimed and stared at the herbs in shock.

"Calm down, please. I'm not doing anything illegal." The onyx-haired man raised his hand, "How do I put this, it's a traditional way of medicine in my country. It's not a drug, but a root. I got it in the marsh fields in the forest when we first came here, and it was drying under the bed this whole time."

"Wait, do you mean I'm going to have to smoke this? How is that supposed to help me get better?" The Russian glared distrustingly at the cigar.

"No, you won't be smoking it." Yao examined the cigar closely and turned back to Ivan, "Lay down on your back."

"What are you going to do?" Ivan asked, his voice low and quiet from the sickness.

"You'll see in a minute." The Chinese man held the cigar like a pen, pointed at the other's body.

"Yao, what are you going to do?" The blond narrowed his eyes, his voice nearly gone. He was still clutching the bedsheets to his bare body.

"Please don't make this difficult. I know you trust me enough to do this." Yao, although he was polite, was also persistent. Convincing, too, as after that phrase, Ivan let the bedsheets fall and lay down on his chest.

"I swear to god, Yao, if that thing hurts, neither of us are going to be happy about the outcome." He threatened, burying his head in his pillow.

"I'm going to make this as comfortable as I can. I'm not a sadist, I don't want to see you in pain." He stated, and lifted the cigar mere millimeters from the Russian's back.

Ivan wasn't sure how he felt about this procedure. At first, the heat was awful and it probably scarred his skin for a long time. But then again, it felt rather soothing. He had gotten used to the smell of the cigar and it calmed him as well. Yao slowly moved the cigar to various pressure points without any trouble. That is, until he accidentally touched a spot just below the ribs of the man. Right when he did, Ivan inhaled sharply and shot Yao a frightening glare.

"Avoid the scars at all costs. Don't even come near them." He warned in a dangerous whisper.

"My mistake." Yao calmly apologized. He understood perfectly what scars meant, especially to a personification. The scars they received in battle typically healed within months, but some took decades, even centuries to heal. The latter were usually gruesome, even after some time. Both Ivan and Yao had plenty of them. Seeing each other's scars was a special step in the relationship of two personifications. Yao didn't want to mention them when he first saw Ivan's back, as not to be rude, but now there was no avoiding it.

“Aren't you gonna ask anything? When most people see them, they ultimately want to know the backstory.” Ivan asked, keeping the side of his head on the pillow. 

“I don't like to be intrusive. If you want to share their story with me, I'm here to listen. But otherwise, I won't ask.” Yao shook some of the ash off of the cigar. 

“I haven't told this to anyone since the Romanovs. You get to hear it, so you're special, Yao.” The Russian smiled. 

Yao hadn't noticed the deep blush until he looked into the metal ashtray. He hasn't heard such things from anyone in a long time, since most people he knew didn't throw words into the wind. Maybe it was nice to finally be appreciated, or he was connected with Ivan on a higher level than just counterparts, certainly higher than just business partners, and maybe even higher than friends. 

“Thank you. Go on, if you wish.” He stated with a hint of a smile. 

“I actually think you may already know this. You know Mongolia, don't you? And you knew the Golden Horde. They constantly terrorized my family, and took all of our money and food. After some time, Elena got sent to live with Tino, and Natalia was sent to Toris and Feliks. This left only me and Katerina to fend for ourselves. One time, our people refused to pay the fee they established, and decided to fight back. That's the time they captured me and Katya. We were thrown into a prison and held there for what I think was several years. At first, we rebelled like our people. We fought back, and refused to do the things they made us do. That was one of the things I do regret.” Ivan paused at this part and tried to collect his thoughts. His breath hitched, and a lump formed in his throat, but he continued, “Katya was everything but a crybaby when we were younger. As a child, she was hyper-protective over all of us, younger kids. She was ruthless to any enemies, and was more menacing than a person should be able to be. That was all up until that day. She rebelled far more than me, and took all of my blame. The Golden Horde was furious. Their Han beat me with a multitude of things, sticks, bags of sand, poured hot and cold water on me, I don't even remember most of it because I passed out from the pain. But Katya, good god, that sight still haunts me. They didn't allow us to see each other for three days. When the guard unlocked my door to let her in, her body was covered with burns and scars, her left eye was missing and a bang age was covering the empty socket. She was dressed in rags and most importantly, she lost all spirit that she held prior. It she had been human, she would’ve died long ago. When they pushed her in and closed the door she didn't speak. She didn't speak to me for a few days. I never asked her about it, because she would offer wake up crying during the nights, and was scared of every sound that came from within the door. Even as a child, I understood that they did unspeakable things to her during those three days. Can you imagine the pain they must’ve caused her if over ten centuries down the line she’s still so terrified?” 

Yao’s hand shook and he couldn't hold the cigar straight. He knew Mongolia and the Golden Horde well, and he himself remembered two Slavic kids that were brought in not too long before the Horde’s dissolution. He remembered how the Han would spit in the food given to the children and how he would ask Yao himself how he should torture “those Kievan brats” that day. The Chinese man had contributed to their suffering as much as the Horde did, and only now he realized that much damage that had caused. Only when the victim of it was laying in front of him, struggling to tell him the story of how he received the scars that Yao helped give. He felt like he betrayed Ivan, like he was lying to him. If he had caused them so much pain once, why did they trust him that he wouldn't do it again? 

The ash fell off the cigar onto the white linen sheets. Yao quickly put the cigar out and stood up. Ivan looked at him in confusion. Those violet eye staring right into him. Those same violet eyes that shed so many tears when under his rule. Yao’s breath hitched and he started in the direction of the door. He had to get away. Away from the people to whom he had caused so much pain. Maybe he would go to the Baltics, but he had to leave him, the man who he put through so much, and who went through hell and back centuries later to make him happy. He couldn't deal with this guilt, he couldn't-

“Yao, explain the meaning of this.” A deep voice behind him spoke, and a strong grip was holding him from the door.  Ivan no longer sounded like a frightened child, but rather an angry man. Perhaps he remembered? God forbid he did. 

Yao mustered up all courage he had and turned around. He let out a soft shriek when the saw Ivan’s face mere centimeters from his own. There was no hint of malice in his eyes, but there was something like frustration. 

“I'm sorry.” Yao bitterly whispered and cast his eyes downwards. Keeping his left hand on Yao’s arm, Ivan used his right hand to lift up the other’s chin.

“What do you have to be sorry for? Despite making me get out of bed in this condition, that is.” The blond winced slightly as he felt a twinge of pain in his body. 

“Ivan, for Christ’s sake! Go back to bed before you hurt yourself.” Yao looked at his partner with concern. 

“Not before you tell me what's going on.” 

Yao sighed as he knew that Ivan always got what he wanted. Deciding not to risk anything he began straight-forwardly, “I lived with the Golden Horde during that time. I've never seen you or your sister face to face, but I heard them talk about you. I'm sorry I stood by while they caused you so much pain. I don't deserve to be treated so well by your family after that. Forgive me, if you can.” 

Ivan’s face was blank for a few seconds. Yao began to fear that he would start screaming or hit him, although that would've been an appropriate reaction. Instead, the blond shook his head and chuckled, “Yao, my god, that was ten centuries ago. I understand that you must feel guilty, but I've been through much worse things since then. While I don't recommend telling this to my sisters, Katya especially, you can consider yourself forgiven by me.” 

Yao half-smiled and only then realized their situation. He was standing mere centimeters away from the person he had very mixed feelings for. He glanced at Ivan’s lips, to find them very soft-looking and a healthy light pink color. He noticed many details of the Russian’s face that he hadn't before, that made this moment even more mesmerizing. Yao thought about what would happen if he were to kiss the blond right there and then. Ivan seemed more than welcoming to the idea. He even began to lean in millimeters closer. Finally, the moment would come for Yao to resolve the conflict he had with himself concerning the Russian. Suddenly, Ivan stopped, confusing Yao. 

“You have ash on your cheek.” Ivan traced his thumb along Yao’s cheekbone, the touch leaving an imaginary trail on his skin. He was distracted by it, so when Ivan’s soft lips pressed up against his own, he was caught off guard. Taking a moment to realize what was happening, his body reacted before his mind did. Yao leaned in closer and wrapped his arm around the Russian’s torso. Ivan slid his hand under Yao’s long onyx hair, which was not in its trademark ponytail, and leaned down himself, for their height difference. Before he knew it, Ivan’s tongue slid along Yao’s lower lip, and was met with the tongue of the latter.

They moved their tongues synchronically as they became lost in the moment. A few hours ago neither of them expected this turnout, but was it really that surprising? Ever since the Soviet Union and the Republic of China made good contact with each other, and Ivan and Yao became very close. It would've been a lie if one said they didn't have any feelings about each other, but they never got to talk through them following Stalin's death. And now, after all those years, that gap was finally filled. While something about the situation felt off, to say that they were enjoying the moment would have been an understatement.

Both personifications took a deep breath as they parted. Neither Ivan nor Yao knew what to say, as the kiss was sudden and they never planned out the scenario thoroughly. The Russian decided to break the silence.

"I can't be out of bed for so long, excuse me." He quickly turned around and nearly jumped onto the massive bed. Although he initiated the kiss, he was flushing a deep red. This was because a few moments ago he had been high off the scent of the cigar, and this situation sobered him completely. 

Yao was stunned, to say the least. Not just by Ivan's sudden statement, but by the entire past minute. He absentmindedly ran his thumb across his lips, the action leaving moisture on his finger. He quickly came to his senses as well, and gripped the door handle again, and twisting it with his shaking hand, "I am making Banmian. It must be already cooked, I'll bring it to you soon." 

He quickly exited the room and paced to the kitchen, which was, thankfully, empty, and leaned against the door, sliding down onto the floor. Yao wanted to scream because of the burst of emotion he felt. Was this just a way to relieve stress for both of them? Were they simply under the influence of the moss cigar? Or perhaps Yao loved Ivan, and Ivan just happened to love him back?

***

Yao turned on the water in the sink. Although they could not run water so easily in the cities, the residence was considered property of the government, so it was supplied by them. The residents of the house had just finished eating dinner, Banmian that Yao prepared, and he decided to wash the dishes as well. The man rolled up his sleeves and squeezed some soap onto the yellow sponge. He began humming a tune while he worked, so he did not notice Toris enter the kitchen with a tired look upon his face. After more arguing between him and Eduard, he wanted to calm himself with a cup of tea. The Lithuanian had expected to be alone, but he didn't mind Yao’s presence. In fact, the onyx-haired man had captured his attention with the song he was humming. 

“This song…” He began, startling Yao, who almost dropped the plate he was holding. 

“What?” The Chinese man composed himself.

“The song you're singing.  _ Vo polé beriozka stojala. _ It's a traditional Russian song. How do you know it?” Toris asked, curiosity getting the best of him. 

“I didn't even realize it. First thing that came to my mind, I guess. When you think about it, I have been spending a lot of time with the people who invented it, so I shouldn't be surprised.” Yao shrugged and put the dish onto the rail, “One person in particular, I’d say.”

Toris thought about it for a moment before a smile spread across his face, “You are really getting along well with Ivan. You enjoy his company, don't you? It's great to see him getting so close to someone, he hasn't done so ever since the Romanovs.” 

Yao was struck with this statement. He had no idea what he meant to Ivan. Toris knew him better than Yao did, so maybe the Russian spilled out his emotions to Toris in a drunken frenzy at some point. Yao was suddenly interested in whatever the boy had to say. 

“Toris,” He began, “What do you know about how Ivan feels about me?” 

Panic flashed in the Lithuanian’s eyes as he realized that he hit somewhere he shouldn't have. He tried to think quick and answers with another question, “Well, how do you feel about him?”

Yao thought for a few seconds before responding, “I don't know, honestly. Before this, I thought of him as a business partner and then a good friend, but now I'm starting to doubt that it's as simple as that. Especially after what happened today.” 

“Would you like to tell me what happened?” Toris’s curiosity suddenly rose again.

Yao shot him a look but then sighed and decided that he had nothing left to lose, “We kissed.”

Toris’s jaw fell agape at his words, but he quickly composed himself, “So there was no need for me to tell you what he said.” He stated with a small smile. 

“I still want to know.”

“When Ivan got drunk on New Years, the two of us were sitting in the kitchen. No one knows what he is truly feeling, not even me and you. But when he is drunk, he will spill out all of his emotions to anyone who is preset. That's how I sound out how he feels about you. He said that in the past decades, he hadn't gotten this close to anyone. You mean a lot to him, you tolerate his being and you don't want to change who he is for your own good.” Toris paused and a smirk appeared on his features, “And just between us, I want you to know that he has been planning to do this for weeks.”

Yao was awe-struck with this declaration. He never thought that war was a good place to figure out your feelings, but here he was: faced with the shocking reality. And the thing was he had no idea how to respond. He was thankful to Toris for telling him this, but also angry for not yelling him sooner. The onyx-haired male chose to use his diplomatic response and smiled and nodded, “Thank you for telling me this. I think I'm starting to figure everything out. I suppose you want some privacy, so I'll excuse myself and go to bed. Good night, Toris.”

“Good night to you as well.” The Lithuanian was confused at this reaction but figured it was understandable. He set up a kettle as Yao closed the kitchen door.

This night, Yao didn't sleep upstairs in the bedroom he and Ivan shared. Instead, he set up the couch in the living room across from the kitchen. He covered himself with an old wool blanket and sighed, trying to go to sleep to the sounds of Toris fiddling in the kitchen. It took him over an hour, but he managed to fall asleep with thoughts clouding his mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°)


	13. Chapter 13

“Eduard, Katerina just called us for dinner. We’re having borscht.” Raivis called from the doorway to his brother, who sat on the bed and flipped the pages of a small notebook. Eduard glanced up at the blond.

“I’ll come down in a minute. Why don’t you save a seat for the both of us?” He was focused on getting Raivis out of his range of sight. The excuse he provided was more than terrible, but the younger shrugged it off and went downstairs, shutting the door behind himself.

Eduard gave a deep sigh and leaned his back against the wall. He knew that he didn’t play an important role in the current conflict. Although he was no different from the rest of them, he couldn’t help but feel like he was a second-rate character in the war. He certainly wasn’t the personification of Russia or China or the United States and the fact that in physical reality, he was similar to them, his opinions were always disregarded. That’s why since the very week they came to the residence, he took out a brand new notebook, one that he had wanted to give to Ivan on the day of the October revolution, but decided to use it as a diary, to keep track of everything that had happened. He observed everything that happened in the household and would write in it every day. Eduard knew everything about everyone. He knew why Katerina could be so short-tempered, why Lena and Gilbert didn’t get along, why Ivan and Yao’s treatment of each other changed during the last two months. He observed their emotions and mistakes and he was building a plan to make everything perfect. At first, he was starting with himself.

Eduard picked up the pen and scribbled in messy Estonian.

“It has been exactly three hundred and sixty five days since the beginning of the Third World War.”

The blond then shut the notebook, placed it under the nightstand, where it was always kept, and exited the room and down into the kitchen.

He opened the door and a feeling of nostalgia immediately arose in his chest.  
The kitchen was void of conversation. Everyone was focused on finishing their plate of steaming hot borscht.   
He shook his head and took the spot next to Raivis. The soup in front of him looked vaguely different than the last time he had it. It was still a deep red, its ingredients were perfectly cut, courtesy of Katerina, but something was wrong. Perhaps, nothing was, and it was his gut feeling telling him about the longing for a better past.  
But his stomach told him that no matter how the borscht looked, it was still food, and food was one of the few things he desperately needed.

Eduard reluctantly picked up the spoon and ate. It was only when he was halfway finished with his food did he notice that someone was missing.

“Hey, where’s Ivan?” He asked, concern growing in his voice. Some looked at him with confusion.

“Back to his old habits.” Gilbert scoffed and threw a look at the doorway before getting back to his food.

Ivan had many habits. Some of which included excessive drinking, smoking, and letting his anger out on those around him. From Gilbert’s tone, it had to have been one of the first two.

When the Russian finally emerged in the doorway, looking weary and smelling of smoke, the others were nearly finished with their food. Without a word, Ivan sat down at his usual place and began eating.

The atmosphere was filled with tension, or was it?

“I think we’ve known each other long enough to not be so silent during dinner.” Eduard mumbled, however his phrase was perfectly audible to those around him.

“So we can enjoy the comfortable silent presence of each other, don’t you mean that?” Natalia’s voice didn’t hold the sharp hint it usually did. Instead it was replaced with some sort of sadness. This sent a shiver down Eduard’s body.

“I know that I don’t have to remind you exactly what day it is today. You know it well yourselves.” He closed his eyes, avoiding the looks the others gave him.

“It really has been a year, hasn't it?” Yao gathered the group’s attention with a sad smile.

“That's right. So many things have happened since then, and so much has changed. God, it doesn't even feel like this was in the same lifetime. “ Ivan reminisced, looking back at everything that had happened since they came to the residence.

“This war has done a lot of things.” Toris shook his head.

“A lot or not a lot, it's still war. And it's still not over, we don't have any right to draw conclusions like this.” Gilbert stated roughly, “Stop wallowing around in nostalgia, it makes me uneasy.”

“Honestly. Let's do something productive. I know that there's bushes or cranberry on the far North of the residence, and if we’re lucky, we can gather enough for mors.” Lena quickly switched the topic. Truthfully, she, too, despised talking about the past in such manners. It made her feel like something would happen, and it wouldn't be anything good.  
The others agreed to this idea and decided that berry-picking was a nice way to get the weight if the world off their shoulders.

***

“Would you look at that! We’ve picked two baskets of cranberries! That's enough to make mors for at least half a week.” Katerina exclaimed happily as they were returning into the house.

“I'm glad that it was enough. After all, we spent three hours just picking berries.” Ivan nodded a he took off his boots. This activity was pretty unusual, but it helped them bond as a dysfunctional family of some sort. Usually, they just spent their days in their own rooms, sometimes coming together to eat. They hadn't left the residence since their infamous trip to Petersburg, and it was really getting to them.

“Well, it'll take me around two hours to cook it. I’ll call you when it's done.” She explained and took the baskets swiftly from Yao and Gilbert and headed into the kitchen.

“I suppose nothing can be done.” Ivan shrugged and the rest were ready to head off into their rooms when an unusual buzzing appeared out of nowhere.

This caused all of them to turn in Ivan’s direction. The Russian was fumbling with the inside pocket of his blazer with a confused look, he took out his Yota and his demeanor grew   
as he saw the screen.

“What? What's happened?” Yao was the first one to react and rushed to see for himself. Subconsciously, he remembered that the last time he had said that phrase when Ivan’s phone was concerned, nothing good happened. A thought that he shouldn't have said that crossed his mind.

“It's a call. From an unknown number.” He showed him the screen, which displayed an incoming call. It dropped as soon as Yao caught a glimpse of it, but soon resumed. Whoever was ringing knew who they had to reach.

“Well, answer it.” Gilbert pressed and Ivan quickly slid his finger across the screen.

“Hello, who is this?”

Something of a cry sounded from the other end. This caused the personifications to cringe.

“Thank fucking god, you answered! Please tell me I've reached Ivan Braginsky, the bastard could've given me someone else's number.” The voice sounded awfully familiar, but Ivan just couldn't put his finger on it.

“It's me. Who is this?” He responded.

“Bloody hell, don't tell me you don’t remember! It's me, Uljan, I sold you shawarma half a year ago, you gave me the keys to your house.”

Ivan was left speechless. In fact, after a month after their meeting, he had forgotten about the boy. And he certainly had forgotten that he had given him his number.

“Yes.” Was all he could get out.

“Listen, you have to help me! First it was the shop, now they’ve gotten to the apartment. I've been starving for four days now, they took everything. They're going to get in. Forgive me, this is such a nice house. I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry!” Uljan seemed on the verge of tears and it had a huge effect on Ivan. This boy, still in his teens was on the brink of something horrible and Ivan was the only person he could call. What he said wasn't the prettiest thing to hear either.

“What’s happening? Tell me, I'll send my delegates over. I know a few stationed on the same street. Hold on.” Ivan pulls the phone away from his ear and motioned over to his sister, “Lena, get your phone right now.”

Lena nodded, sprinted up the stairs and began rummaging her room for the Samsung.

While the situation at the first floor wasn't getting any better.

“What the hell are your delegates going to do for me now?! Ask god to forgive my soul?! They’re all fucking dead, and I will be too.” Uljan steadied his breathing and sighed.  
An idea arose in Ivan’s head, “Hey, if you go to the room at the end of the hall, there's a closet there. On the first shelf on the left there's a case with a gun. It's fully loaded and has two extra rounds.”

“Where do you think I am now? Fuck, when they get in, it’ll be a nightmare, I don't want them to do this. Please-”

“Uljan. I need you to calm down and get the gun. You can handle this. I know it's hard right now, but I know you’ll manage. I believe in you.” Ivan’s voice got quieter with every word. He closed his eyes and did something that he hadn't in a long time. He repeated a prayer his old, old leader told him in his head.

_Our Father ,who art in heaven…_

_Don't let another innocent child die because of my mistakes._  

“You’re right, I can do this. First shelf, left side.” The sound of shuffling was heard from the other end, “It's the Makarov, right?” 

“Yes! Yes, that's the one.” Ivan hoped that the other could use a gun.

Uljan was about to say something when a loud bang from a distance on his end sounded and he let out something between a sob and a gasp.

“They’re here.” 

Ivan’s eyes widened. He could not think of who it was, but he was experienced enough to know when the front door to their apartment in Petersburg was being opened. 

This time, however, it crashed to the floor.

“God, no. Get out of there. Shoot if you see them, you know how to use a gun. You'll be okay, I promise that you are going to be fine.” Ivan could practically feel the fear of the teenager in his chest. Uljan was a citizen of the Russian Federation, Ivan felt all of his emotions, and it was a terrible experience. 

“I know how. I just want to say thank you for doing everything that you did. I know I don't deserve it, but it really kept things at bay for as long as possible. Forgive me for everything if I ever did you wrong. I just hope you’ll last longer.” 

The sound of a door opening within a meter range came from the speakers.

“I can finally spit in the face of the delegates now.”

A single gunshot.

Silence.

Ivan put the phone on the floor with a shaking hand. He didn't notice the tears streaming down his face silently. He couldn't do it. He couldn't save him. He tried so, so hard, but he just couldn't do it. He pressed his face to his knees and cried. He cried silently, to the terror and disturbance of the rest, which simply stood in silence and shock. 

At this time, Lena jumped off the stairs with the phone in her hand. Looking over the scene briefly, she realized that she had come too late, again. She let out a shaky sigh and a lump formed in her throat. She resisted the urge to cry upon seeing her brother doing so.

Yao was the first to say something.

“Ivan, it's not your fault.” He stated, barely whispering. 

Ivan only shook his head. He understood that Yao only wanted him to calm down, but the Chinese male was lying. It was completely his fault. If the apartment had been better guarded, or had a sturdier door, this wouldn't have happened. 

Yao wanted to say something. Perhaps he wanted to comfort Ivan at this time, maybe even kiss him again. And he would've done just that if this situation didn't affect him as well. 

“Look, we did everything we could. This wasn't in our control.” Gilbert spoke up. Even the most straight-forward person out of them all found it hard to talk.

Ivan lifted his head and ran his hand through his hair. His face was red and tired, and he didn't look at any of them. He could only think about the fact that he had witnessed a death of a child over the phone. To the Russian, nineteen was an extremely young age. He knew that people Uljan’s age died every day in this war, but this was different. He never got close to anyone not in his family since Alexei, and once again, he couldn't do anything to prevent his death. This was a curse, an unbreakable one at that. 

“What did he say about… the delegates?” Katerina asked with growing concern. 

“They're dead.” Ivan breathed out. 

They stood in silence again until a familiar buzzing broke it. Ivan snapped his head to look at the phone with bewildered eyes. Maybe Uljan shot the attacker, maybe he was okay after all! God, he was going to get one hell of a scolding after this. 

Wiping his face in a hurry, Ivan quickly picked up the phone without even looking at the caller ID. 

“Uljan? Uljan, you stupid, stupid boy! How, in the right mind, could you worry us like that?!” Ivan nearly screamed and the other end paused. 

“Forgive me, this isn't who you think it is.” The voice of a grown man responded with a sigh. Ivan checked the ID, only to find that it was from the Kremlin’s special forces. Frustration and terror shook his body and he held back the urge to scream. He replied with a “yes” since the man on the other end wouldn't be able to see his state. 

“I'm calling to you with a heavy heart to tell you about the current situation. Are you ready to hear the news?” 

“I don't care at this point.” 

The man on the other end sighed again and began, “Earlier this week, the leaders of the Baltic states requested their respective personifications. As this concerns you, we couldn't send them off without your agreement. Since you declined, we had to refuse. This angered them, and they had a meeting with the Americans. As a result, they got permission to attack us with their own forces. They’ve gotten to Petersburg as of now.”

“I figured. We’ve been told by… an outside source.” Ivan replied with a pause. 

“And do you realize that this is a direct threat to you? I know the residence is almost on the border with Karelia. That's the only reason Finland hasn't attacked. But it won't be long until the Baltics reach the border.” The man grew agitated with Ivan’s cold response. 

“And what about Finland?” Lena piped up upon hearing that her brother’s country was mentioned in the conversation. 

“Finland is willing to cooperate with Karelia, but also with Estonia. As these countries are enemies, they're at a loss. It's a possibility that they'll stay neutral, but that's highly unlikely.”

Lena nodded with a disappointed look. Finland, Karelia, and Estonia were all Finno-Ugric countries, making them relatives of some sort. This war tore that bond. She had no idea what Tino was doing, but the fact that he refused to participate in a war against her and the other side of her family meant that he was still alive. 

“I understand. Is that all you wanted to tell us?” Ivan cut in the conversation.

“Unfortunately, no. I really hate to tell you this, I hope you understand.” The man’s tone suddenly became remorseful and distressed. 

“Just say it. As I’ve said before, I genuinely don't care anymore.” Ivan grew impatient. 

“The Kremlin had come up with a plan, and we need your permission to carry it out. It's our last resort and it's quite depressing that it has come to this. The plan is to drop a bomb on the East coast of the United States. But this isn't a simple nuclear warhead. This is the most powerful and up-to-date bomb in the world. No one but the Kremlin knows of its existence. It has enough power to finish this war. But that also means that it has enough power to destroy the world.” The man explained. 

Another wave of shock washed over Ivan. Has the war gotten that far that this was their only way out? “Surely you can carry out another plan. There's no need for radical measures.” 

“No, this war is a dead end. The Chinese are losing men left and right because of the bombs, and while they are best at hand-to-hand combat, their ports have been taken, as well as most of ours. We only have the European and Siberian Center and North. Both Russia and the United States are thrashing in each other’s chokeholds and this war is going nowhere. People are just going to keep dying if we don't do something.”

“Well, this isn't the something we need. Do you realize that by dropping this bomb you’ll be killing yourself and your family, innocent people in countries that aren't even a part of this conflict? You can't be so rash.” The Russian glared at his phone in fury. 

“We’ve already been waiting far too long. If they get to Moscow it’s over. Not to mention that they’ll get to you sooner and you won't be there to witness the fall of your nation.”   
This seemed to be enough to convince Ivan and he sighed in despair, “Give us five hours. We’ll call you back and give you our statements.”

“I’ll be awaiting your call. May you figure out the best for all of us.”

Both Ivan and the man hung up at the same time. 

He warily looked over the rest, who also heard the entire conversation and were staring at him with terrified eyes. Did he really say that there's a possibility that they would be the ones to end the world?

"I have a lot of explaining to do." Ivan sighed and gestured over to the dining room.

***

"So what you're saying is that the Kremlin has a bomb that they want to drop on the U.S. and they need us to be okay with it?"Gilbert confirmed, a hint of confusion in his voice.

"As crazy as it sounds, yes." Ivan looked at the group. Some of them still hadn't caught up to the situation, some were horrified out of their minds, and some refused to even acknowledge it. Of course, that wasn't unexpected. Only half an hour ago they were informed about an apocalypse that was likely to happen. What in the world were they supposed to do?

"Obviously, we should decline! Our army is strong and they can fight the Americans and Europeans off. Imagine what would've happened if we had dropped a bomb during the siege of Leningrad? Or the occupation of Moscow? This is a measure far too drastic. You can't convince me otherwise." Katerina exclaimed. The rest looked at her in surprise. The Ukrainian wasn't the one to usually offer her opinion, and that made this occasion more special than it should've been. 

"You've seen what's happening. He was only one of the victims in Petersburg, there's thousands, if not millions, more." Gilbert responded, shaking his head.

"They're close to us, too. You heard the man, Finland is only protecting the territories within the Karelian border. We're in the oblast - that means that they'll get here soon." Toris added.

"Judging by my calculations, they'll get here in twelve hours by car, but that's if they don't figure out the location sooner." Eduard remembered how he counted the distance to and from the residence to several major hotspots.

"And if they do?"

Eduard looked at Ivan, who, for once, wanted his knowledge. This hadn't happened in years, so the Estonian was taken aback, but replied, for the severity of the information was too important to miss.

"Three hours."

A dreadful silence arose as it hit them that if the enemy had just entered Petersburg, they had three to twelve hours before their own demise. As soon as the Baltics got to them, it would mean death. They were only armed with specific guns, while the other side had high-tech weapons that would put them out in seconds. Not to mention that the Americans would be ultimately informed of the personifications' location. They would have no trouble bombing and killing all of them. Personifications had no governmental authority - they were only the physical embodiment of the land. The governments thought that they would lose nothing by killing them, especially their enemies'.

"Send the army on the borders where the Baltics are attacking with the highest weaponry on their hands. You can send some of my soldiers, too. Why don't you udnerstand that destroying the world because of some petty attack is terribly selfish?" Yao suddenly offered his unexpected opinion. He had been around for much longer than the others, and his opinion was probably the most rational. However, most didn't listen.

"This isn't just a petty attack. It's a series of events that will eventually lead to the extinction of the human race. Do you remember what happened in the Baikal region?" Ivan argued.

"What?"

"Our armies made a loop around the Baikal lake in May of last year, since no one was willing to surrender it. We managed to secure a territory of two hundred kilometers, but millions of soldiers from both our and their sides were killed, and the battle lasted three months. It's just not worth it." The Russian shook his head. He had gotten the information by calling the mayor of St. Petersburg in September, "They'll push us out of Siberia to get our resources, they'll push us out of Europe to get our cities, and they might be generous enough to leave us a scrap of land in Ural. That's their plan, and it's coming into action right before our eyes. I have enough pride and enough gut to not allow them to continue. I'll make them suffer, I'll give them triple the pain for every person of ours that they've killed. And I could care less if I die in the process."  
The group was stunned with Ivan's outburst. He hadn't realized his outburst fully at first, but he figured that all of the built up rage and frustration had to be let out somewhere. He realized how selfish that must have sounded, but as a personification, his main concern was his people, and seeing them getting killed mercilessly set off something in him that hasn't been released since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The depressed and empty shell had just been taken off before his eyes, instantly. He was no longer the lamenting and hapless character he used to be when the Russo-American crisis began. With every day since Alexei's demise, he had found his warmonger self coming back, and this was the breaking point. It didn't matter to him what he had to do in order to achieve the best for his own citizens.

"We still have time to think, you said you'll call back in five hours." Eduard reminded, only to be shot a glance of pure fury, which made him regret the statement. He sensed that the Ivan he knew during the time of the Soviet Union had come back, and that didn't mean anything good.

"Two minutes should be enough for you to think of an answer. The more you think over it, the more unsure you become. So take two minutes to battle with yourself right at this table and decide."

The spirit inside the Russian was burning at its fullest, the need to protect his family and his people fueling it. He knew his answer, and so did most of the others. However, they thought that making an important decision such as this in such a rash manner was terrible and nonstrategic. Nonetheless, they were all more than eager to share their opinions.

"The time is up. You will all give your statements, and whatever the majority decides, we will do. And remember, there is only "yes" and "no". There is no in between." Ivan declared, "Gilbert, you begin."

The albino seemed to be caught off guard, and ruby eyes wandered around the floor before he sighed and began in a surprisingly serious tone, "Look, I don't particularly agree with your statements, but that doesn't matter right now. This bomb needs to be dropped because there really is no other way out. We send more soldiers, so what? They'll struggle with the Americans, almost all of them will get killed, and the battle comes to a draw. That's how the war has been going for a year. The officials never told us this, and they never will. We can only find out the truth from the people, and I'm certain that we did. This war is going nowhere, and this is the way out. It's not the easiest or the smartest, but it's our only one."

Ivan gave an expression of approval and his gaze moved to his younger sister, "Lena, what do you say?"

"As strange as it feels to say this, I agree with Gilbert. We're putting our people on the line, we're killing innocents. A swift death isn't the most pleasant thing, but it's much better than putting them through endless torture and suffering. This war is a dead end. When two nations of the same power, with nearly the same amount of allies and weapons, collide, it's bound to have a pitiful outcome. I say we use the bomb."

While Lena's territory was being protected by Finland, she understood that soon enough that protection would drop. Either Tino gets killed or discharged, the Americans threaten Finland, or Estonia persuades them to fight on their side. She believed that this was the best for them, even if it didn't seem as such.

He locked eyes with his youngest sister, who lifted her indigo eyes at him. She was one of the people who didn't mind a game like this. If anything, Natalia found it amusing.

She had never feared her own death, but like her brother, she cared about her citizens. She would never forgive herself if she didn't do something to stop the ever-growing number of deaths.

"This plan is like euthanasia, we kill people because we don't want them to suffer. So be it. I give my approval, and I agree with your statement, Vanya." She nodded. Ivan allowed a smile to slip on his face for barely a second while Natalia was watching. If the rest kept up in this manner, they would carry the plan out.

Katerina was next. With anger and the slightest hint of disappointment in her eyes, she began, "This is a radical measure. We can change the course of the war, we've fought back before, and we're going to fight back now. We've been at our lowest together, me and you, Vanya, and we survived. Are you really willing to commit a crime like this, kill yourself and kill all of us, because neither your or the officials can carry out a decent plan?" 

Ivan stared the woman down. Even in his ferocious state, the fearful demeanor of the scared little boy he had once been crossed his face. He wouldn't have given it a second thought if it had come from anyone else, but to hear it from the person who he was raised by struck somewhere deep. He only nodded in an understanding manner.

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Raivis, what do you think?" Fiery violet orbs locked with fearful azure ones. Raivis glanced at his brothers who only looked away. Raivis knew that Ivan would let all of his anger out on him, and that idea didn't make him feel any better.

"I agree with Katerina." Raivis spoke quietly, "There has to be something we can do, there just has to be."

Toris looked at the youngest Baltic with sympathy. Raivis didn't quite grasp the helplessness of the situation well. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism, but he simply refused to acknowledge that this was they only way out.

Ivan decided to not say anything in hopes of not scarring the young boy further and moved onto his oldest brother. During Soviet times, Toris was the main target of Ivan's wrath. The Russian smiled sweetly as he towered over the brunet, "Toris, how about you give your opinion? It's interesting to see what you will say. Remember, this decision is yours and yours alone. Don't let it be influenced by anyone else."

Toris put on his bravest look and straightened his posture so that he would be only a couple of centimeters shorter than Ivan himself,"I believe that the bomb should be dropped. I don't think this is a very good plan, but it's all we have."

"Very well." Ivan turned to Eduard, who was more than ready to give his opinion.

"Drop the bomb. We don't have much time before the Americans get here. If the mayor of Petersburg has already been captured, there's a high chance that he has already given them our precise location. When they get to us, we won't get out alive." The Estonian stated seriously. He clutched his notebook in his hand so tightly, his knuckles went white. Ivan noticed this, but didn't say a word.

Instead, he turned to the person whose answer he had been dreading the most. He took a deep breath and turned to face the man he had made history with. Yao forced himself to not yell at Ivan because he knew he would never get his point across in that manner. He wanted Ivan to hear him. He wanted him to change his mind so that they could continue living, so that they could win the war.

  
"Ivan, listen to me." He began, steadying his voice, "The end is not the answer. Both you and I and everyone else in this room are skilled directors of battle, some more than others. We have been raised in the art of war. We've been in situations far worse than this." Yao knew that there was no going back now, "Remember Leningrad. Remember Poltava. Remember the Golden Horde. This is an act I would expect from some newbie general, but not from you. There's still something we can do. Don't do this, Ivan. Please don't do this." 

Ivan felt the burning sensation at the back of his eyes and the lump in his throat. Yao had told him this with such genuineness, like he had nothing to lose. That was the case after all. Something inside him told him to listen and to act upon this suggestion. The blond took a deep breath.

"Six to three."

"What?"

"Six are for the bomb and three are against it. The majority decides the decision, and this is it." Ivan stated, as Yao stared at him in disbelief, his mouth agape. He actually thought that he would knock some sense into the eccentric Russian, but apparently, that was impossible. If they were in any other situation, Ivan would've listened and gave such orders. But with the lives of his citizens at stake, he listened to no one except himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter! Hope you enjoyed the feels ;)


	14. Chapter 14

It has been an hour since Ivan had called the Kremlin to voice their decision. The man on the end sympathetically congratulated on making such a difficult choice so quickly. He also explained the full plan. It would take four hours for the bomb to be set up completely and an hour to reach its destination. They would receive a notification when the bomb would be nearing the east coast. The man also said how much of an honor it was to work with the personifications. Ivan told him the same thing and they parted ways. The Russian then called off the gathering and the personifications were in their designated rooms of the house.

***

Ivan shuffled a stack of old photos. He spent about thirty seconds examining each one with a smile. The photos depicted him and his family through the years, mainly Soviet times. There were photos that brought back happy memories, some, not so much. Ivan was currently looking at a family photo. He noticed how he was the only one smiling.

The rest seemed upset, scared, and downright apathetic. The Russian turned the picture over to see the date. March 1955. The same year Stalin had died. It was a national tragedy at the time, and signified the end of an era. With a sad smile, Ivan moved onto the next photo. It was of him and Yao, when Stalin and Mao, Yao's leader at the time had a conference together. They were in a heated discussion, and didn't notice the picture being taken. Ivan chuckled as he remembered that there was even a song about the two communist countries' friendship. "Stalin and Mao- brothers for centuries". The blond turned to look at the other subject of the photo to see what he was doing now. Yao was laying on his back, blankly staring into the ceiling. He must've noticed Ivan staring at him, so he spoke up.

"Why didn't you listen?" 

His voice made it seem like he was on the verge of tears, and, perhaps, he was. Ivan didn't mean to upset his partner, but he wholeheartedly believed that he had made the right decision for everyone. 

"I did what was best." He stated. Yao spared a bitter glance for him before turning back to the wooden patterns of the ceiling.

"No, you didn't. You did what _you thought_ was best. You just singlehandedly killed the entirety of the Earth's population, Ivan." The male sighed in exasperation before continuing, "I never thought that you were so selfish when I fell in love with you." 

Ivan's eyes widened at the man's remark and he turned his whole body to face him, "What did you just say?"

Yao couldn't help but smile at the Russian's reaction, of defeat or victory, he didn't know, "That's right. I've questioned my feelings towards you since your communist era, but this war really finished it off. You actually thought that you could treat me like that and expect something else?"

"Treat you... like what?"

"Like we're married, you bastard. You always took care of things for me and told me things you haven't told anyone else. And when you kissed me, good god, what did you expect to come out of that?" Yao sat up on the bed and leaned his body against the back of the bed, covering most of his face with his hand, "And I thought you felt the same. I thought you thought of me as enough to change your mind and make the right decision, but you didn't. You might have killed the human race, but neither you nor I will never kill what I feel towards you, Ivan. Even if that's what's best." 

Ivan was stricken with simple, raw shock at the other's words. Yao was right, Ivan really did treat him differently. From spilling out his heart to him to showing simple displays of affection. The Russian had never thought of it that way. His leaders had always told him that homosexuality means punishment, so he had never allowed him to think of it that way. To him, the kiss was a breaking point of mutual tension. But now that he had thought it out thoroughly, he might have fallen in love with Yao without even realizing it.

The blond looked at the other with wide eyes and an expression of deepness, "Yao, I think I love you back."

"Don't throw words like that around! Don't lie to me after all that we've been through together! God, I thought that you were of any good, but that's falling apart right in front of my eyes. I can't believe I allowed myself to do this." The male had noticed the tears streaming down his face. What did he feel? Rage, bitterness, disappointment, perhaps?

It all happening in a flash, Ivan nearly jumped across the bed and pressed his hands on the back of the bed, on both sides of Yao. His breath was shaking, and if it were not for the adrenaline coursing through his body, he would have broken down sobbing.

"Listen to me, before you blame me for all of your trouble, look at all I've been through. The last person I loved got executed in front of my own eyes. Everyone I get close to seems to pass on after I admit my feelings. Maybe I hadn't told you anything before because you're important to me and I don't want anything to happen to you? You call me selfish when you're just the same." He felt as if his heart was going to jump out of his chest. 

Yao's expression changed from surprise and fear to something like amusement, "You love me? Prove it."

Ivan smirked and exhaled in irritation, "Not only are you selfish, but you also have the personality of an angsty teenager."

Before Yao could insult him back, he felt Ivan's lips crash against his own. Years of confusion and loneliness were let out in the kiss. Two people, not personifications, their feelings were only human, driven to the verge by war, poverty, and corruption. Their actions were now not only physical, but their minds were now involved in the situation. Their hopes, failures, dreams had become one as their kiss got more and more passionate. Both of them knew that this would be the last time they had a chance to do this. They allowed themselves to get ready to do unspeakable things. Sure, they might regret it later, but at this moment, there was no later. Only passion and a cruel end. That's all there was to it.

***

"What?"

Gilbert tapped the floor impatiently with his foot as he stared down the other province. Lena was seated in armchair on the opposite side of the room, reading a revised version of "Kalevala". She would never admit it, but in this situation, she was completely terrified, and this book was one of the few things that could calm her. It was a collection of ancient tales that she and Tino had come up with when they were children. It caught on with the Finno-Ugric people and soon became a cultural folk tale.

"Why are you so calm? The world's going to end in a few hours, if you haven't noticed." Gilbert glared and the Karelian mirrored his expression.

"I'm aware of that. And I plan on spending these last few hours with something that's important to me." She clutched the book until her knuckles became white. The sudden pain made her loosen her grip. Gilbert nodded and she went back to the story.

"You wrote that with your brother, right?" The albino suddenly asked. Lena looked up at him in confusion, as he had never been interested in any of her doings. 

"Yeah. When we were kids, we questioned how the world came to be a lot, so we would make up crazy stories to explain it. Tino knew how to write, so he copied those stories on paper and the people got hold of them somehow. They found them amusing, I guess. It's become some sort of a traditional tale now." She explained with a small smile. 

"Ludwig and I have something like that, too. I often read him the stories of the Grimm brothers. When I look back on it now, I think of how stupid I was for reading a child such gory stories. But it stuck with him well, and he enjoyed them. If you ask him now, though, he'll deny it completely. He acts all official and busy now, but somehow I always think of him as an adorable young child." Gilbert rest his face in his palm. He always smiled when he thought of his brother. 

"It helps to think of good things during bad times, don't you think?" Lena shut the book, suddenly, as she felt the urge to ask a question, "Do you remember what you said on New Years? When we were shoveling walkways?"

Gilbert thought a few seconds before responding, "The New Years wish? I remember that."

Lena's features softened. She had to admit that she thought of it often, today was no exception. Simply because that event was so out of character for the usually unruly Prussian.

"Well, I'm sorry that you didn't get a chance to realize it. I know how you feel. I wanted to see Tino before my death, too."  
Gilbert chuckled as he looked at the ground, then lifted garnet eyes at the Karelian, "It's alright. War is a cruel event and things usually don't go as planned."

"Guess we have more in common than we thought." She held back the urge to laugh at the irony of the situation.

"You know, we've always had some sort of tension between us. I don't know why it happened or why we kept it up, but I think that we should make amends before we meet the end." Gilbert suggested.

Lena was taken aback. What he said was true. They were always grouped together as Russian provinces, and for some reason, despised each other. The few times they have gotten along was in the Soviet Union, where they mutually helped each other, both mentally and physically. Perhaps it was their history or their cultural differences, but for some reason they never got along. The Karelian woman agreed that the apocalypse was a time to set aside their differences.

She got up from the armchair, walked over to the bed where Gilbert was sitting, and extended her hand.

"Peace?" 

Gilbert looked Lena over with a look of confusion before exhaling in relief. With a smile, he took her hand.

"Peace."

***

Eduard was writing in his journal when a knock came on the door. Not waiting for a reply, the person let themselves in. Toris walked through the door with Raivis following behind. The Estonian looked up from the book to watch them shut the door and sit down on the bed with tired looks.

"Where were you? You were gone for nearly an hour." He asked, setting down the pen.

"We tried to phone Feliks." Toris replied with a sigh of defeat.

"Unsuccessfully, I suppose?" Eduard scoffed.

"The line got disconnected. I think they cut off all connection between the two sides." The Lithuanian closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, trying to calm himself.

"That's a shame. Have you tried-"

"Alfred? I have, he's not picking up either." Toris glared at his brother, who shifted closer to the edge of the bed.

"Ivan is lucky. He has all of his family here, and he doesn't even have to worry how they're doing, if they're alive or not." Raivis suddenly spoke up, "If we didn't come to Russia in the beginning of the war, maybe we would've been in the same situation."

The Latvian had always been the one to voice his thoughts aloud, not thinking them through before he said anything. His brothers have gotten used to it, but almost everyone else was shocked by his words. It used to get him into trouble nearly all of the time during the Soviet Union.

"I don't know. I don't think I would've been able to fight against Ivan and his family even if I wanted to." Toris shrugged.

"Even after what he put us through, I still think we have some complex bond." Eduard chuckled and looked back at his journal. Before he could pick up his pen, though, the door opened again.

"Speak of the devil." The Estonian heard Toris mumble as he slowly turned his head to face the person standing in their doorway.

Ivan appeared disturbed and his hand shook as he held the phone. He cleared his throat, and despite that, his voice shook as he spoke.

"We have twenty minutes left." 

***

The personifications finished getting dressed in the massive wardrobe and finally stepped outside, the fresh autumn breeze caressing them. Nature didn't have a clue what was about to happen. Unusual for this region, the sun was shining, making everything appear with a soft glow. They faced the west, where the explosion was due to happen at any given moment. Had they not been personifications, but regular people, they would've probably had a breakdown, killed themselves on the spot, anything but stand back and watch the event unfold with a calm expression.

"So this is the end?" Gilbert asked with the smile that never left after he made peace with Lena.

"It's not the end." Natalia spoke, shaking her head.

"How do you know?" 

"I just do. After the bomb falls, we might have a difficult time, but I know that we'll be together again someday." She shrugged. 

Gilbert hated admitting this, but he had to fight back the tears pushing back at his eyes as he let the realization sink in. After this, they wouldn't be together. They would be separated between Heaven, Earth, and Hell. But then again, what kind of country goes to Heaven? Perhaps they would be united in the underworld. No matter where, they would be united. 

This war did a lot of things. It tore the world in two, it killed millions of innocents, it finally broke the personifications' psyches. But they couldn't deny that it did them a huge favor. It brought all of them together like nothing else. They would die, so be it. At least they would die together.

Yao turned to his side to look at Ivan. The Russian had a different, almost alienating, beauty within him. He must've noticed amber eyes focused on his features, so, without looking away, he took Yao's hand into his own.

"Do you regret your decision?" He quietly asked.

While Ivan thought about his answer, a flash of light made him blink to regain his vision and wind harshly blew in all of the personifications' faces. Light is faster than sound, it took a few seconds before they heard the crash. Despite this, Ivan wasn't going to leave the question unanswered.

"I regret nothing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the final chapter! Thank you so much for all of the favorites and reads, it really means a lot. This fanfiction was very difficult to write, actually. It's the longest time I have spent on a work (a year and a half) and I have to say that I'm pretty proud of it. In the meantime, I'm working on another multi-chapter work, except it is much shorter than this one. I'll also be writing more oneshots and translating this story into my native language. Once again, thank you for reading, and reviews and favorites make my day, so please take the time to do one or both. c:
> 
> -SashaDerksen


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